


Another Heart Calls

by TheNarratress



Category: Super Junior
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-16
Updated: 2016-07-16
Packaged: 2018-07-24 08:42:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 24,597
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7501629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheNarratress/pseuds/TheNarratress
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I always doubted that something like destiny even existed but meeting him couldn't have been just a coincidence.<br/>When we first met he told me that the voice of the sea lead him to me. On the other hand I believe that our lonely hearts called out for each other at a time we needed someone by our site the most.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Annyeong (^.^)/
> 
> I was writing this fanfic for the Seoul Lost and Found Contest on AFF.  
> My theme is Wondrous Sea.
> 
> I'm not native English that's why there might be some spelling or grammar mistakes. My friend CZSeoul was helping me with the English.

**DongHae POV**

„DongHae Hyung! Here! I’m standing free!“, I heard my best Friend KiBum calling.  
Without hesitation I turned towards him. The quite old looking ball is stuck to my feet even though the opposite team tried to fetch it from me.  
Hastily I dribbled a few steps forwards before I passed the ball to KiBum, who had followed my every movement to be prepared to take it from me. Only a few steps further he tried to shoot a goal. Everything seemed perfect, but the goalkeeper had watched the events on the field like a hawk.  
Without thinking twice he jumped in the lower left corner. The ball was flying directly towards him now. Not too long and the ball was safely resting in his arms. A pleased grin was planted on his face.  
KiBum kicked in frustration against a small sand hill in front of him, which caused sand grains to fly through the air.

The game resumed just a bit later. The goalkeeper kicked the ball all over the field and even managed to pass it to one of his fellow teammates. The later reacted fast and made his way through our defense towards our goal.  
“Do something!”, I heard KangIn shout, he was our goalkeeper and captain at the same time. Our defense now started to do something, but the danger to get a goal was still too high.  
Instantly I left my position as striker and tried to avert the danger of getting a goal. I was fast and got to the offender quickly. I grinned triumphantly and put myself in the way of the offender.

“You won’t get that one”, our offender shouted and tried to fool me with a surprising tackling. But it’s not that easy to get me fooled. Not too long and I was again standing in his way. The offender tried the same move again, but this time I was prepared. I reached for the ball and snap it away from him.

As the opposite team was now almost completely gathered in our half of the field. Some player instantly started to attack me and fetch the ball away form me again. That was an undertaking that didn’t work out.  
A wide grin was creeping on my face as I was able to get away once again. Content with myself I searched for a way to pass the ball to one of my teammates, but everyone was surrounded by an opposite team player. As I realized that I cursed silently and tried to figure out a way to get the ball to one of my teammates.

The opposing defense stood narrow together and blocked every possibility for me to get further. Suddenly a player moved away from his position and attacked me once again. That movement came so surprisingly that it almost worked for him to snatch the ball away from me. In that same moment I saw how a hole appeared in their defense which allowed me to shoot the ball to a teammate.

“RyeoWook-ah!”, I shouted with a loud voice and I strike out to shoot.  
With a lot of power I kicked against the ball and it flew like an arrow over the warm sand.  
RyeoWook, shrug a bit when he heard his name. When he realized that the ball was flying directly toward him his eyes got wide out of fear. Indecisive over what he was supposed to do now he stepped shortly from one foot to the other. When the ball only was a few centimeters away from him, he turned himself away from it and let it pass by. I didn't expect that to happen.  
In shock I watched how the ball flew out of the previously agreed field and only got stopped in one of the booming waves of the sea.

“Good kick, DongHae Hyung”, I heard KiBum say with a malicious grin on his face, while he put his arm heavily on my shoulder.  
My best friend had made his way towards me to mock me right after landed in the water. Huffy I curled my mouth and stared disbelieving towards the ball that was floating far away from the beach.

“What was I supposed to do? I couldn’t go further nor backwards. RyeoWook stood free”, I defended myself but my words where whipped away with one wave of my friends hand.  
“Well... It could have worked out”, I deemed, but I already knew as I spoke those words, that I was just trying to fool myself. I sighted.

From afar I heard how KangIn stopped the game and ordered that someone should go and get the ball out of the water. General mumbling was heard now. No one wanted to swim so far into the sea to get the ball. Our practice was held on the beach but still no one had the desire to go into the cold water. Thought the sand on the beach was warm the water hasn’t changed its temperature since two months.

Hastily I got rid of KiBum’s clinch and went towards the clear sea water. KiBum curled his lips in disappointment and run after me. Harshly he grabbed my arm and dragged me back, with an evil eye.  
“Are you kidding me now? When you go out there you'll catch a cold. I have no intention to play your nurse for the next few weeks, Hyung. My finals are in three weeks. Let RyeoWook go. He’s the reason why the ball is out there now”, KiBum said and pulled me a bit away from the sea.

I turned myself towards the place where RyeoWook was standing. The a bit lanky boy was looking embarrassed to the ground and draw small circles with his left foot into the sand. From time to time he looked shortly up towards me. He immediately lowered his gaze again when he noticed that I was looking at him.  
“I have shot the ball, haven't I? Thus I will get it back. Furthermore RyeoWook has his finals in three weeks too. I don’t want neither of you to fail those exams. I want you both to go to college” I said and got rid of KiBum’s hand again.  
“Hyung~”, he whined with a teary voice full of hope to convince me to not go, but that didn’t work on me.

Determined I went towards the cold wet in front of me. I passed by RyeoWook on my way. He was still looking down in embarrassment and drew circles with his foot. While passing him I thought to hear a quiet 'Thank you', but as I turned towards him he was still starring holes into the sand. A slightly red shimmer has formed on his checks. I smiled.

Gentle waves where hitting my ankles and dug my feet fast in to the cold sand, a wonderful feeling. I loved the beach and the sea. The cold water, that was now climbing up my legs, wasn’t something unfamiliar for me. Still I had wished it to be at least a bit warmer for today. A slight shiver went through my body.

I didn’t stand still for an instant. I waded out into the sea and soon I found myself chest deep in the water. The ball was now only a few centimeters away from me. Hastily I swam towards it, but it seemed as if it was drifting further away from me. How is it possible, that this small black and white leather thing, was carried so war away? Weren’t he waves supposed to carry it towards the beach?  
Confused I starred at the ball, which was now again approximately within the same distance as before. Again I tried to get near it, but the waves carried it even further on to the sea.

“DongHae-yah, hurry up we want to continue our game!”, I heard our captain shouting behind me.  
He had an easy saying. Angrily I bit a bit too rough on my lower lip.  
Again I tried to reach the ball. This time it was even remaining on its spot, but something that shortly caressed my leg held me back. I looked in to the deep, but the water was so unclear at this point that I wasn’t able to see something. Probably a fish that was swimming too close to the beach.

I outstretched my arm to get the ball back. This time I was able to touch it with my fingertips. Sadly I was still a bit too far away from it to really catch it. I swum a bit further and finally was able to grab the ball. As I wanted to turn towards the beach, I saw in the light of the setting sun a tail fin coming out of the water.

The sun let the splashing water glitter in the air and even the tail fin was glittering in a wonderful shade of blue. Still I did realize the size of the fin. It was huge. To huge to be the one of a normal fish. However it didn’t resemble those of a whale or a dolphin. Magnetized I looked at the spot where the fin disappeared before. Was this really just a fish?

“DongHae Hyung. Come out of the water or else you will really catch a cold”, I heard KiBum shout. His voice pulled me instantly out of my thoughts back to the here and now. I looked at the ball in my arms, which now was innocently going up and down with the waves. Once again I looked at the horizon in hope to see this marvelous fin again, but nothing like it was in sight. Disappointed I turned towards the beach and swum back to my team.

“Took you long enough”, I heard KangIn mumble when I reached the beach, and brought back the ball. I pretended to hear nothing and went to my best friend, who wasn’t standing far away from me.  
He had already taken my towel out of my backpack and waited longingly for me. As soon as I had reached him he laid the small towel, which had gotten rough from the frequently washing, around my shoulders and rubbed me dry. Angrily he was blustering with me over the whole action. I wasn’t even listening to him.

Again my eyes wandered to the horizon, but that what I hoped to see wasn’t arising.  
“Ehm... KiBum-ah. How big do you think are the fishes out there?” I asked without lifting my gaze from the horizon. I didn’t need to look at my best friend to know that he was baffled. He frowned.

“Fish?”, he asked confused.  
“Aren’t you the upcoming marine biologist? Shouldn’t you know such things? May I remind you that I’m still in High School”, he said and stopped to dry me. Instantly I grabbed the rough fabric and wrapped it tighter around me. My gaze was still on the horizon. A soft sight escaped my throat as I assessed that the desired thing didn’t appear.

“Did you see something out there, Hyung?. KiBum suddenly asked, which I answered with a slow nod.  
KiBum put his head slightly askew and then asked if that what I had seen had been big. Again I nodded.  
“It was probably a dolphin. They are said to be living here as well. Or at least that is what we had been taught in school. Come on. Sit over there. Until you’re dry, you’ll stop with the training! Ok?”, KiBum asked and lead me to a small bench that was set up nearby.  
“Yes, Mother”, I retorted grinning, whereon KiBum, bold as he was, poke out his tongue.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

“Good Training. I’m proud of you. See you next week“, KangIn was shouting over the whole playground and finished the exhausting football training. My training clothes had started to dry up within the last few minutes. Therefore I had spent the rest of the training as spectator. Amazing how good I could listen to my Dongsaeng.

KiBum came delighted running towards me. Instantly I gave him a bottle of water which he took thankfully. After a few gulps he sunk tired beside me on the bench. He was breathing heavily and drops of sweat where running down his face.  
When he was getting better and the exhaustion wasn’t as bad as before he asked me if I wanted to go home with him.  
“My Mom is making your favorite dish. She would be really happy to see you in our home again”, he meant and took another gulp of water.

“Sorry but I can’t today”, I lied and avoided to look at him while doing so.  
Since a few weeks I hadn’t visited the family of my best friend. Not that I didn’t love them. The opposite was the case. I love his family. But the harmony that was always in this household drove me almost insane right now. How badly I wished to live again in such a happy family.

“Oh come on, turn a few appointments down. You know very well how much my Mom loves you. She would certainly be happy”, KiBum tried to convince me once more.  
I wanted just answer him as a loud buzzing tone in my backpack held me back.  
Instantly I moved the backpack closer to me and tried to find my mobile beside all those books and cloths. It didn't took me long until I had found the vibrating thing.  
A smile was formed on my face while I was looking for it. A smile, that as soon as I saw who was calling disappeared.

**Lee DongHwa**

Instantly I pressed the red button, which was connecting the caller to my mailbox.  
KiBum followed my movements interested. I knew that he had seen the name on the display. His face immediately turned serious.  
“You still haven't talked to him? Maybe you should go to Mokpo again. You know. To clear things up. I believe they will understand…”  
“No they won’t!” I cut my best friend and stood up.  
“But… Hyung”, KiBum shouted, he was on his feet now too.  
“There is nothing to talk about, KiBum-ah!”, I shouted loud and managed to cut another reply of him off.

Head shaking he reached for his backpack, threw it over his shoulder and turned to go away. He walked a few steps and turned back towards me.  
“You know, sometimes you should try to make a step towards someone, Hyung. Yes, they have done you wrong and yes, they had been mean, but at least give them a second chance. Everyone deserves a second chance”, he taught me and then went away. I starred after him for quite a long time. Only when he disappeared behind a corner I turned back towards the sea in front of me.

The sun stood low. The sky had taken a wonderful red color and dyed even the water blood red. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.  
KiBum was right, but still I don't feel ready yet to forgive them for the words they had thrown at me when I was honest with them for the first time. It hurt, to know that they couldn’t nor wouldn’t accept the real me.

“I shouldn't have said anything”, I sighted and buried my face in my hands. The truth is that I miss my family really bad. I miss the non-existing cooking skills of my mom or her nagging on thing that can’t be changed. I miss the cool but still lovely nature that my brother had shown towards me. But I miss my father the most. He deceased a few months ago. Our whole family had broken apart over his death.

A tear has formed itself in the corner of my right eye and was now rolling slowly down on my check. On half of its way I whipped the warm eye water away with my sleeve. I’m not allowed to cry. I have to be strong. After all I was all by myself now.  
Hastily I wiped over my face with the sleeve again to catch another tear and then I finally packed my stuff in my backpack. I put my mobile in my pocket.

I was not in the mood to go home now. Nothing would be waiting for me there. Only a cold, blank apartment in the midst of a big city. Again a sight escaped my throat. I decided to walk along the beach for a while. I was getting further and further away from the bus station which would lead me back to where I came from.

Today there were hardly any people at the beach. This was very surprising. Normally there are more people at the beach around this time of the year.  
I looked towards the setting sun again. It was only a little bit of the warm orb in sight now. Soon it'll be goon and the moon would take over.  
My gaze wandered over the horizon. That fin was coming to my mind again. What kind of animal could it have been? During my whole study period I hadn’t seen such a beautiful fin. I tried to recall how it exactly looked like, but the moment in which I had seen it was too short to memorize it clearly.

When I felt my mobile vibrate in my pocket I freed my thoughts from this marvelous fin and took my phone out. Again the name of my brother was written on the display. I was about to reject the call again when KiBum's words came to my mind. Inwardly I was cursing that the younger was so much more mature than me and pressed the green button.

“DongHae-yah? Is that you?”, I heard my brother asking on the other side of the phone.  
I kept silent. Again he called me by my name. I took a deep breath and asked with a quite shirty voice what he wanted.  
“Is that the right way to greet your Hyung?”, he asked strictly, which caused me to sight.  
“Ok. Ok. Hello. What do you want, Hyung?“, I asked again and stressed the 'Hyung' really strictly.  
My brother seamed not very pleased with my tone but he let it go.

“Did you listen to my message on your mailbox? I called you earlier but you didn’t pick up”, he said, which caused me to bite ashamed on my lips. I didn’t had the intention to listen to the message nor to call him back at all.

For quite a while we were silent. A loud sight revealed that my brother also didn’t know what to say nor do.

“How are you?”, he finally asked in aspiration to get somehow to talk with me.  
“I’m fine. My exams will start soon. So if you would excuse me…“  
“Do you come home on Children’s Day? Mom would surely be happy to see you again”, my brother cut me off.  
I laughed. Was he being serious?

“Probably not. You know… the exams. And besides I doubt that Mom would be happy about it. May I remind you that I’m the disgrace of our family?”  
“You’re not”, my brother replied calmly.  
“But no one expected… something like that. I would lie if I said that Mom isn’t disappointed. Cause she expected a lot from you. Now to hear that you would never have a normal relationship with children she…”  
“I have normal relationships”, I interrupted him roughly.  
“You know what I mean”  
“Only because I like men doesn’t mean that I won’t have a normal relationship. I still can achieve great things in my life. Yes, I won’t get children and I'll probably never get married but it’s still a relationship. My relationship”, I shouted enraged and hung up.

I knew very well that I had overreacted, but the memory about the reaction of my confession was still burnt deeply in to my mind. It hurt to think about the gazes that my brother and mother gave me after I had told them the truth. Their questions and their comments... everything was now again running through my head.

Hastily I put my phone back in to my pocket and started to run. I wanted to forget. I didn’t want to torture myself any longer. My legs carried me far away. Only the booming of the waves and the sound of sea gulls came to my ears. My thoughts where still clinched to the conversation with my brother. Again tears where building up in my eyes. They made my sight blurry. Resolute I wiped them away again to be able to see where I was running to, but I wasn’t able to stop the tears from falling down. Nonetheless I kept running without reducing my pace and finally stumbled over something soft.  
My foot got caught and before I knew it I fell on to the hard sand. My back ached in pain over the sudden impact. Whining I rubbed the part of my body that was aching the most. Only after the pain was a bit gone, I turned to see over what I had stumbled. My stomach contracts instantly, as I saw a naked and unconscious man lying in the sand.

Immediately I run to him to see if everything was ok with him. I talked to him but he didn’t react. Luckily he still had a pulse and was breathing. Eased I gasped in relief. He wasn’t dead.  
Without hesitation I took my phone and dialed the number of the nearest paramedic, which we had to contact from times to times because of the injuries that happen during the training. It didn’t take long until someone picked up the phone. The voice on the other line sounded unfamiliar.  
Instantly I described to the doctor the situation that I was in and he promised to come immediately to where the unconscious person and I were.

Nervously I checked the man's breath and pulse again. Everything seemed to be alright but somehow I had a bad feeling about this. I looked at his body to figure out if he had any bruises or cuts, but not a single scrape nor blue marks where visible. Embarrassed I started to chew on my lips. The blood rushed to my checks while observing his body and I finally covered his private part with my towel.

I got a bit away from the stranger and started to look around. I scanned the beach around us, while not leaving the young man out of my sight, but I found nothing. Nowhere could I spot a bag or clothes. Where did this man leave his stuff?  
Without finding something I turned back to the still unconscious man to wait for the doctor to arrive. I sat beside him and observed with relieve how his chest was evenly going up and down. His facial expressions where relaxed. It almost seemed as if he was sound asleep. But... no one has such a deep sleep. Right?

I took a closer look at his face. He had a pretty face. His skin was almost as white as snow which made his artificial colored azure hairs stand out even more. A prominent jaw was giving him an enviable V-Line. His lips…

Without realizing it I had reached out my hand for his full lips. At the last second I realized what I was about to do and took my hand away again. I gulped loud. Inwardly I scolded myself for my doing. There was an unconscious man lying beside me. Shouldn’t I be more concerned about helping him to get better? Instead of focusing on that I wonder how it would be to touch his lips and how his eyes may look like.

Angrily over myself I heavily shook my head. As I was about to slap me, my movement was stopped immediately by another hand. Baffled I looked up and recognized a young man in a white frock.  
“To harm yourself won’t help your friend in any way. I guess that you are Lee DongHae? You have called me a few minutes ago because of your friend here”, the man friendly said while letting go of my hand. I slowly nod which made the doctor smile brightly. His bright smile caused small dimples to appear on his checks.  
To not waste any more time, the doctor, with light brown hair and small glasses on his nose, turned towards the unknown besides me.

He took a stethoscope out of his case to check on the heartbeat of the unconscious man. He seemed satisfied with what he was hearing and nodded; he put the stethoscope away and took out a small lamp with which he shortly lighted in to the eyes of the stranger. Several physical tests followed. The doctor didn’t say a word and I didn’t interrupt him in carrying out his duty. Patiently I waited for him to finish the tests soon.

Finally he put the last equipment in his case and looked up to me.  
“Your friend is ok”, he said with a smile on his face.  
He was reaching out for his doctor case and wanted to leave again, but I stopped him right away.  
“Doesn’t he have to go to the hospital? Shall I call an ambulance?”, I asked confused, as the blue haired man was still unconscious lying on the ground.  
“That won’t be of any use. Just put him in bed and let him sleep a little bit.”  
“But I…”, I started but was immediately interrupted by the young doctor.  
“Sleep will be the only thing this young man needs at the moment. Please keep an good eye on him”, he said and started to go away again.

“But I don’t know this man”, I said to the doctor, but he doesn’t seem to hear me, as at the same time the wind was blowing a big and loud wave on the beach. Sand was flying around because of the wind and let me close my eyes for an instant. When I opened them again the doctor wasn’t in sight any more. I run a few steps forwards, but the young doctor didn’t appear again. Confused I shrug my head and turned back to the unconscious person on the ground.


	2. Chapter 2

**DongHae POV**

Glistening bright rays of sunlight found their way through my thin curtains and brightened my small but cozy apartment a little bit up. The light was a bit too bright for my taste, as the brightness was even visible through my closed eyes. Grumbling, I turned myself to the other site and pulled my blanket over my head. I didn’t want to get up yet. Sleep seemed to be a much better option at this moment.

I quickly pulled the fleecy blanket tighter around me. Pleasant warmth embraced my body and made me sigh blissfully. The darkness had me back again and hopefully would lead me back to my dreamland soon. The only place, where he is waiting for me. The only place, where he still can wait for me.

_In my mind various items and a place began to appear. I immediately recognized the slightly hidden spot in the library, of our university, where he often had gone to, after a long and tiring day in the classroom. In fact, he sat there right now too and read in that darned book with which he was struggling for almost a year. Intensely he stared at the pages in front of him and created deep wrinkles in his forehead. His lips silently formed the words he was reading right now._

_Seeing him like this let a weak smile creep onto my face. I could feel how the tears were swelling up within me just by his mere sight. With big effort I tried to keep my breathing steady so that the tears won’t appear and find their way from my eyes down my cheeks. I didn’t succeed._   
_I felt the cold wet slowly slid down on my cheek. I quickly wiped the tears away with my sleeve and took a hesitant step toward him._

_When he heard my halting steps, he looked up from his book and stared in my direction. He gave me a big smile, but when his eyes met mine, it instantly vanished from his face. Without hesitation he closed his book, got up and rushed to me._   
_"What's the matter?", he asked softly while stroking my cheek gently with his hand._   
_This gesture alone broke the camel’s back. I wasn’t able to hold back anymore._

_My legs gave in. I would have fallen to the hard ground beneath me if he hadn’t caught me. Gently, he let me slide down to the floor and sat down besides. He moved closer to me, clueless about my sudden behavior and took me in his arms. His sudden closeness only made things worse. I tightly clung on his shirt and buried my head in his chest. Tears streamed down on my cheeks and dripped mercilessly into the bright yellow fabric of his shirt._   
_"Hae-yah, what's wrong? Was there something wrong with the essay you had to turn in today?", he worriedly asked and tried to calm me down a bit while making slow circular motions on my back._

_Slowly I shook my head and sobbed again. More tears found their way down my cheek, leaving a soaking wet spot on his shirt._   
_"Hae-yah...", he began, but left his sentence unfinished._   
_Carefully he pulled me closer to him. I took a chance and immediately clung more closely onto him. I never wanted to let him go again. I had missed the feeling of being in his arms too much._

_A sudden sob made me listen attentively. Was he crying too?_   
_With watery eyes, I looked up at him, but he was not sad. Instead of sadness I noticed concern and confusion in his eyes._   
_"Hyuk-ah...", I began, but another sobbing sound made me pause again._   
_He didn’t seem to hear nor cause the noise. His eyes were fixed on me. When he noticed that I looked up to him, he began to smile slightly. He leaned down to me and gave me a gentle kiss on my forehead. I closed my eyes and enjoyed the feeling of his soft lips on my skin. I felt how he leaned down to my ear and whispered those three words to me which I had so longed to hear again for weeks._

**_"I love you"_ **

 

Again there was a quiet sobbing sound that came to my ears. I slowly opened my eyes. My heart clenched painfully when I realized that everything just had been a dream. I stared sadly into the darkness under my blanket. It would have been too good to be true. Someone sobbed again.

Carefully I lifted the blanket a little bit up and peered through the small gaps that where formed between the mattress and the blanket. Everything seemed to be as usual. I just wanted to drop the blanket again to go back to my dreamland when I discovered a large pile of clothes in the middle of the room. This pile had not been there yesterday. Or has it?

While I observed the pile, I suddenly noticed how it slightly shivered. I quickly blinked a few times to reassure myself that I didn’t imagine things. The pile really did move slightly back and forth. When the pile of clothes suddenly moved clearly to it’s left, panic overcame me.

I quickly jumped out of my bed and took the next best to hand, that could be used as a weapon; my alarm clock.  
Warily I went, armed with the ticking thing, towards the still trembling pile. Another sob was heard and I started to realize that the noise was emanated from that pile of clothes. It somehow sounded... human.  
I shivered.

I swallowed loudly and gathered up my courage. I quickly took a few steps toward the pile to lift the upper blanket up a little to see what was hiding under it. I just wanted to grab after the blanket when the trembling thing moved again. Startled by the sudden movement, I stepped backwards and fell on the floor. I felt how my foot got caught in the blanket that was lying to my feet. The grip around my alarm clock loosened up and let the ticking thing fly through the air and hit the nearest wall with a loud bang.

While I fell, I had closed my eyes shut. I opened them a little bit again to see if the thing under the pile had noticed me. Immediately I widened my eyes when I realized that there had been a person hiding under those moving blankets.

The young man had medium blue hair and very white skin. He looked thin and fragile. This impression was reinforced by his moist glittering eyes. Tears ran down his cheeks and left moon-shaped marks on the cold wooden floor. Because of the many tears he had already cried his eyes were completely swollen and red. His nose had a slight red veil as well.  
I looked at the stranger's face, but I couldn't remember to have seen this young man before. Little by little the memories of the previous evening came back to me.

I quickly stood up and walked up to the man in front of me. The man observed my action with fearful eyes and tried to pull himself over the floor by using his arms. Surprised, I stopped walking and stared at him. The young man still tried to pull himself away from me. What astonished me the most was that he didn't use his legs at all. Was he hurt that badly yesterday that he can't use his legs now?

Without hesitation, I went up to him and stood in his way. He looked at me with fear full eyes before he turned away. Out of fear his whole body began to shake harder. However he didn't run away from me this time.

I slowly bent my knees to be on eye level with him. I gave him the friendliest smile I could create in this situation and held out my hand. With wide eyes, the young man stared at my hand, but he didn't attempt to shake it.

"I found you on the beach yesterday. I'm DongHae", I introduced myself to him, but the young man just stared at me with big eyes.  
When the stranger made no attempt to introduce himself, I asked him for his name, but in response he just put his head to the side interrogatorily. Doesn't he understand my question?

I pulled my still outstretched hand slowly back as he still didn't seem to be interested in greeting me. His curious eyes followed my movement and remained on my hand. Uneasy weighed the stranger his head back and forth before he took his eyes away from my hands to look at me.

"Can you understand me?", I asked, but I got no response from him again.  
His eyes curiously wandered over my face. He even leaned further towards me to take a better look. After a while he let his eyes wander from my face to the rest of my body. He kept eying me up and down until his gaze got again stuck on the hand; I had stretched out for him a few seconds ago.

Carefully, he leaned even farther towards me. Suddenly he lost his balance and threatened to fall on the floor. I reacted immediately and managed to catch him just in time.  
"Saved by the bell", I said with a smile and helped him sit up again.

A shy smile slowly formed itself on his face. I was enchanted. Those full lips. That perfect form. I rarely had seen such a beautiful smile before. Sadly, the moment in which I could enjoy his beautiful smile, went by way to fast.  
Immediately the stranger tried to move closer to me, but again he had his problems with the force of gravity. Once again I saved him from falling to the floor. I was once more greeted by big eyes but this time the fear seemed to have disappeared. While I still was helping him to sit upright he started to lean his face closer to mine. He tilted his head slowly. Does he want to...?

My eyes widened in horror. Does the stranger really intend to kiss me right now? We hardly knew each other. Why should he...  
I held him further away from me, but the blue haired man didn't want to give up that easy. When he started using his hands for help, I collapsed under his weight. I hit my head hard on the ground which let little colored stars appear in front of my eyes.

The stranger, who fell with me, was lying on me. His head rested on my chest. He was breathing fast. His warm breath penetrated the fine fabric of my shirt and streaked my skin. An overwhelming feeling... and yet it felt wrong. I had to get up and as far away as possible from this man immediately.

I tried to get up, but the weight of his upper body lying on me made it difficult to do so. The stranger used this to his advantage and immediately tried to pull himself even closer to me. My heart was pounding wildly against my chest.  
Desperately I tried to push him off of me, but it had no use. The young man pulled himself closer and closer . It didn't take him long to be on eye level with me.  
I stared up at him anxiously. He didn't seem to notice my fear at all. Or was he simply ignoring it? Again he tilted his head and looked at me with big innocent eyes. I swallowed loudly and closed my eyes. I couldn't and wouldn't watch him kiss me.  
I expected to feel him press his lips on mine, but I felt something completely different.

A slight pressure on my forehead made me open my eyes again. To my surprise I saw that he leaned his forehead against mine. His eyes were closed and looked completely relaxed. His breathing had slowed down. I felt the warm air he uttered stroking my skin. I was not comfortable with this. He was too close for comfort. This had to stop. Now!

I wanted to use my hands to push him off of me, but something inside of me stopped me from doing so. The young man also raised his hands now and put them on my temples. My heart began to race even faster.  
" _Calm down. Everything will be alright_ ", I suddenly heard a voice echo in my head. My eyes widened. That was not my voice, and he hadn't said a word either. Could it be...?  
No, impossible. Such a thing doesn’t exist!  
" _Calm down. Soon you will understand everything_ ", I heard the same voice say again.  
Even through that voice was telling me to calm down I couldn’t. What was going on here?

I stared at the calm face above me and began to tremble slightly. After half an eternity the stranger opened his eyes again and looked directly into my eyes. His dark brown eyes sparkled joyfully.  
"Hello," he greeted me hesitantly and gave me a shy smile.

Startled, I finally pushed him off of me and tried to get as much distance between us as possible. The young man looked at me with sad eyes. He tried to follow me, but he had to give up his plan because his legs prevented him from moving faster. The smile on his face faded away quickly. He pushed his lower lip slightly forward and began to pout.  
"Did I say something wrong?", he asked softly, while looking at me with big sad eyes.

"What was that just now?", I asked loudly.  
"That just now?" He asked confused and put his head slightly askew.  
"You know, that voice-thingy in my head"

The young man suddenly began to beam. His eyes lit up with joy.  
"You heard me? That's amazing", he rejoiced. A big grin spread on his face.  
"That wasn't amazing! What was that for?", I asked a bit harsher.  
"I had to learn your language", he said, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

I stared at him in disbelieve. Was he being serious? He had to be kidding me. How could you learn a language in such a way? If it really was that simple to learn a language, I certainly wouldn't torture myself by learning Chinese with boring lessons for the past five years.

I eyed the young man with the blue hair in front of me suspiciously. When the stranger noticed, that I was staring at him, his face brightened up even more. A friendly smile adorned his face and his eyes looked at me curiously. He wanted to say something, but when I noticed that I tore my eyes off of him. The stranger seemed to understand that I was not interested in a conversation at the moment and kept silent.

Cautiously, I peeked back at him. He, too, had taken his eyes off of me. With eager eyes he had started to eye himself. His fingers wandered over the thin fabric of the clothes I had put on him last evening. He lightly tugged the slightly elastic material and made big eyes in astonishment.  
His fingers wandered down to his legs. At the sight of them he tilted his head a little. Deep wrinkles formed on his forehead as he lightly run over his exposed leg skin with his fingertips. However, his forehead smoothed out again soon. The boy's eyes began to shine with excitement.

A low chuckle echoed through the room. However, the bright and cheerful sound faded quickly when the boy noticed that he was the one who causes the sound. He looked at me with guilt in his eyes. A slight blush appeared around his nose area.  
"I'm sorry", he said while lowering his gaze.

Carefully, I moved closer to him again. Slowly I bent down to him until we were eye to eye with each other. When the young man noticed that, he raised his head and looked directly into my eyes. My breath caught.  
Caught up in those gorgeous dark brown eyes it was incredibly hard to avert my gaze from him again. I took a deep breath and finally lowered my eyes.  
With curious eyes the young man looked at me. An incredible beautiful smile appeared on his face.

"I am so happy to finally be here in Australia", he said cheerfully, after a short moment of silence between us.  
Confused, I stared at him. Australia? How did he get the idea that we were in Australia?  
"This isn't Australia. Did you want to go to Australia?"  
"This isn’t Australia? But Crush, the sea turtle, said that I'm on the right track. He said that I should turn left at the next coral reef. I turned left, therefore this has to be Australia", the blue-haired man claimed, pushing his lower lip slightly forward in protest. If he wouldn't have needed his arms for support, I would have sworn that he would have crossed them in front of his chest just to underline his words.

"A turtle told you the way? No wonder you took the wrong way. Didn't they teach you at school that you should never listen to talking turtles", I joked and started laughing out loud. At the sound of my mocking words the young man pouted even more.  
"When it comes to directions, you can always rely on turtles. No one knows the sea better than them", he said huffy and looked at me angrily. Somehow he looks very cute with those angry eyes and pouty lips.

"So... A talking turtle told you that you're in Australia", I laughed.  
"No! Crush, the turtle, told me the way to Australia. Previously I was in the Antarctic. That's also where I met him"  
"Isn't the water a bit too cold for sea turtles in the Antarctica?", I asked mockingly.  
A wide grin crept onto my face. It got extremely difficult for me to remain serious.

"Cold? I've never swam in warmer water. To be honest the water there was a bit too warm for my taste. Crush on the other hand seems to like those warm streams very much. I think that the sea on this coast has the perfect temperature. Not too hot, not too cold. Just perfect”, the young man enthused about the memories he had about Eurwangni Beach. A small smile appeared on his face while he was remembering the beach he's been to yesterday.  
"That's all very well, but you're not in Australia but in South Korea right now"  
"South Korea?", the young man asked while looking at me in disbelief.  
"That can’t be!", He resolutely said and held on tight to his statement to be in Australia.

I sighed and stood up. The young man watched how I went to my bedside table to take the little remote for the TV. Without hesitation, I turned on the microwave sized TV. Images instantly appeared on the screen. The channel, which I had turned on, showed its usual morning program.

"There are people in there", the young man said excitedly, looking at the flickering box with wide eyes.  
It was increasingly difficult to pull myself together. I wanted to laugh out loud so badly but I knew that now wasn't the right time to do so. I tried to explain him with a calm voice that it was just a TV and that the people were not really living in that little thing. The blue-haired listened to every word I said with lots of interest. His gaze wandered from me back to the screen and back to me again.

The newscaster reported about the festivities next weekend. During her report, she mentioned the Korean Republic several times. When the next report started to run I turned back to the stranger.  
The young man stared silently at the flickering box. His face got paler and paler with every word the newscaster said. Even his beautiful smile and the light in his eyes vanished from his face.

"The newscaster just confirmed it. You are in South Korea", I said after we had listened to the news anchor for a little while.  
"But I turned to the left. Crush said that it was a child's play to find Australia. Therefore this needs to be Australia", he said with conviction.

"South Korea?" he quietly asked me again after the next report ended. I nodded.  
The young man's arms suddenly lost their strength. The blue-haired man tried to get up again but his arms buckled under his weight. The strength in his arms didn't seem to want to return. I immediately rushed to his aid.

"It never would have ordered me to go ashore, if this isn't Australia. I wonder if it is mad at me now. It must be angry at me right now! I don’t want it to be mad at me", I heard him mutter while I helped him getting up again. To emphasize his words, he shook his head violently while he spoke.  
"Who are you talking about?", I asked curiously.

The boy immediately became quiet. With sad eyes he looked up at me and declared with a strong trembling voice who he was talking about.  
"It’s the voice of the sea. It watches over us sea creatures"  
"Sea creatures? But you aren’t a fish. You are human"  
"I'm a merman! One of the few that still exist", he said loudly with tears in her eyes.  
"But something like a merman doesn't exist. They exist in fairy tales but not in the real world", I argued, but he only shook his head vigorously.

 

"Can I have some water, please?", the alleged merman asked after a while and looked at me pleadingly.  
A sigh escaped my throat. I asked if he could keep himself upright and eventually disappeared into the kitchen to fetch him a glass of water. When I came back, I noticed how the young man followed my every move.

I put the glass of water in front of him and waited for him to take it and drink from it. However, the young man only stared at the glass with a very puzzled expression on his face. Carefully, he finally lifted the glass and sniffed the water. Disgusted, he pulled his nose.

"This isn't water!", he said and put the glass a little too rough back on the floor. The liquid contents spilled over the edge of the glass and made small puddles appear on the floor.

"Do you have sea water?", he asked hopefully.  
I took the glass on me without even saying a single word and went back to the kitchen. Once I arrived there, I took out my salt container and poured some of the contents into the glass. I stirred the broth with a spoon and took it back to the alleged merman. Does he really want to drink salted water?

I got back to him with the salt water. Again the young man sniffed on the liquid. By the smell of the water he grimaced slightly. Hesitantly he said that it will work with that broth as well.  
I eagerly waited for him to drink the water. No one in their right mind would drink such salty water.  
I never would have expected to see what happened a few seconds later.

The young man raised his glass and poured it over his bare legs. Shocked by the sudden action, I wanted to fiddle him my opinion about making such a mess, but then I noticed that his eyes were still fixed on his legs. I couldn't help myself and followed his gaze with my eyes. Amazed about that what I saw my jaw dropped.  
His previously normal looking skin had suddenly blue scales at those places where the salt water had touched the skin. The scales sparkled and shimmered beautifully in the dim sunlight.  
Without really realizing it I stretched out my hand. I wanted to touch them. I wanted to feel them, so I could make sure that I wasn't imagine things.

My hand was only a few inches above the blue shed when the young man suddenly began to howl loudly. Startled about the sudden noise, I turned to face him. His face was distorted with pain. Why was he suddenly reacting like this? Was it my fault? Isn't it allowed to touch those beautiful sheds?  
I turned my gaze back to the place where the sheds had been appeared at, but they weren't there anymore. In their place was a large badly bleeding wound now. Were the scales to blame for the wound?

The water on the floor touched his skin again and let a new scale mesh appear. However, it didn’t take long until the scales transformed to another wound. I immediately realized what I had to do. Without much effort, I lifted the boy up and put him on my bed to protect him from the salty liquid on the floor. I rushed to the bathroom to get a towel.

A little later I returned with a towel and immediately started to dry and wrap his legs up as good as possible. I heard the merman wheezing. He must suffer incredible pain.  
When I had wrapped his legs into the towel as good as possible, I grabbed my phone on my bedside table.  
"I'll get help. Everything will be fine", I said with the calmest tone possible to the young man.  
Before I could even dial the first number I heard how he told me to let it be.

"But that must be treated. This is serious"  
"It will heal by itself. Please wait a moment. Please", the blue-haired man pleaded in pain.  
I tried to convince him that it would be the best to get help, but he refused to listen to me. Again and again he assured me that everything was alright and soon over. And indeed, the pain seemed to subside a little later.

The young man suddenly leaned over and began to tear off the provisionally applied bandage. I immediately stopped him from doing so. The young merman looked reproachfully at me and puffed his cheeks in frustration.  
"It's over. Why can't I remove these scratchy things?", he asked and began to tear the fabric again. This time I couldn't stop him from removing the bandage. I was expected to see those serious wounds again, but none appeared under the cloth. Surprised, I blinked a few times. It didn't matter how much I checked; the legs stayed healed. Confused about what just happened I looked down at him.

The merman had lowered his eyes and began to sob. Panic swept over me. Had he also suffered internal injuries through the water? When I asked him about his well-being, he kept quiet. Tear after tear rolled down on his cheek and landed on his knees. The situation overwhelmed me. What should I do now? If he'd be someone of my friends I would take him in my arms and try to comfort him. But we aren’t friends. We were strangers. How should strangers deal with each other in a situation like this?

I wanted to grab my phone again when I heard him mutter something under his breath again.  
"Only two days"  
"Only two days?", I asked curiously and put my phone back on my bedside table without using it.  
The boy sobbed louder. He wiped his tears away and looked at me with sad eyes. He took a deep breath to start talking but then began to sob loudly. I sat down beside him and took him in my arms. Thankful for the support I was giving him, he leaned against me.  
"Shh... It's going to be fine", I tried to cheer him up.  
Unfortunately, it didn’t help much.

"How?", he asked while looking up at me.  
His eyes were red and glistening again from the tears he just cried.  
"How should I manage to find something in two days, which let the coldness within me disappear? The voice of the sea wanted me to go to Australia to find it. I can't swim in this state. You've seen what happens when my skin get in contact with salt water. As I probably won't get to Australia... In two days from now...", the merman began to explain but the tears were overwhelming him so much that it was difficult for him to speak in full sentence.  
Patiently, I sat next to him and somehow tried to calm him down. Nothing seemed to help.

"... I'm becoming foam. If I won't find it on time I turn into foam", he sobbed, and thus ended his explanation. With those last words spoken, he began to cry even harder. He clung himself closer to me as if he was searching for support. I tightened my grip around him. I didn't like seeing him suffer like this. I promised him that we would be looking for a solution together, but I had no idea where to even start searching.

For a while we just sat there. None of us said a word. Only his loud sobbing could be heard.  
Slowly, the blue-haired man calmed down a little bit. His breathing got even. It certainly wouldn’t take long until he would fall asleep from sheer exhaustion. I raised my hand and slowly drew little circles on his back.  
"Thanks", I heard the young man quietly mumble against my chest.

"Please, tell me your name", I asked quietly, but didn't expect him to answer anymore as it looked as if he’d finally fell asleep. To my surprise the Merman answered me.

 

"The dolphins call me Hyuk"


	3. Chapter 3

**DongHae POV**

 

"Next please," I heard the person behind the counter call loudly.  
The person standing in front of me moved forward a few steps and asked for a ticket when he reached the counter. Soon the exchange of cash and ticket would take place, and then it was finally my turn.  
Immediately I tightened my grip on the young man named Hyuk, who was standing right next to me. The man looked bashfully up at me and gave me a shy smile. I smiled at him encouragingly. With a short head movement I told him that we had to walk a few steps forward. I felt how he also strengthened his grip on me now and took a cautious step forward. With shaky and small steps we walked up to the counter where the seller was impatiently waiting for us.

When we arrived at the counter, we were immediately greeted by an unfriendly-looking salesman. I noticed how the young merman next to me began to make himself smaller out of fear when he saw the grumpy man in front of us. Like a small child Hyuk tried to hide behind me and clung himself even closer to me. I patted his hand to calm him down a bit and turned back to the ticket seller.

Impatiently thumped the seller his fingers on the table in front of him and waited for me to tell him what kind of cards I wanted to purchase. Without hesitation I told him in what cards I was interested in and pulled out my wallet. I took the amount he told me out of my wallet and pushed the small bundle of money through the narrow gap in the pane.

After the seller had controlled the amount with a very critical eye, he quickly gave me two cards and told me in a slightly bored tone that the bus that would take us to the ground, was right behind the gate. The seller raised his eyes and was about to call the next customer forward when his gaze got stuck on Hyuk. Amused by the behavior of the merman, he looked at the dainty man behind me and pulled mockingly one side of the mouth upward. I feel how Hyuk began to tremble slightly and clung himself even tighter to me.

"Have fun", wished the seller with sardonic voice and a still crooked smile.  
"Thank you. We will", I said friendly and turned to leave.  
I had decided to ignore the mocking tone in his voice as well as his sardonic gaze. It wasn't of any use to start a fight right now over such as small matter.

My sudden movement came a bit too surprisedly for Hyuk. Although he tried to turn to the gate as well, he started to stumble dangerously. I immediately pulled him closer to me to support him again. The young man looked up at me thankfully and smiled at me sheepishly.

"Thanks," he said meekly which let a slight read veil form around his nose again.  
Seeing the light red color in his face made my heart beat faster. In order to support him better I put my right arm around his waist which made my hand rest calmly on his hip. I took a deep breath to calm down the raging beats in my chest.  
"No big deal. Your walking already got quite good. Come to think of it that you took your first steps today you improved a lot already", I praised him and smiled at him encouragingly while I led him through the entrance to the station.

"Do you really think so?" Hyuk asked with twinkling eyes.  
"Yes, I do", I said while nodding resolutely.  
Clearly satisfied with my answer Hyuk let a beautiful smile appear on his face.  
Hyuk looked at his surroundings with sparkling eyes. With interest he watched how a small child was playing with a new-looking doll while we were waiting for the arrival of the little bus.  
My eyes, however, rested solely on him. They wandered over his nearly perfect facial features. The face, that had been so close to mine when I woke up this morning. A gentle smile began to form on my face when I thought of the relaxed facial expression I had seen while he was sleeping soundly in my arms.

My mind wandered to yesterday. The smile that had previously formed on my face dripped slowly away again. For quite a long time I tried to figure out a way to help the young man but I just couldn't find a solution to his problem. I tried to get to know more about that thing that he had to find, but the mere mention of that thing made him break out in tears again. It almost seemed as if he had given himself up at the very moment he had learned that he was on the wrong continent. Although he tried to put a good face on the matter, his eyes were giving him away.

"Where are we going?", I heard him suddenly ask.  
"You'll see," I said and smiled at him playfully.  
Hyuk cocked his head as he looked at me and pushed his lower lip forward.  
I started to laugh out loud at the sight and shortly ruffled with my free hand through his blue hair. Surprised over my unusual movement Hyuk ducked his head a little and looked at me with wide eyes. Slight fear appeared in his eyes. He immediately relaxed again when he noticed that I didn't want to hurt him.

The small colored bus with the gigantic elephant head suddenly appeared after a bend and held a little later in front of the waiting crowd. The small doors had hardly opened when the large mass started moving with big steps towards the bus. I strengthened my gripped on the young merman so I won't lose him. Hyuk immediately did the same. Afraid of getting separated from me he leaned against me and clung himself tighter on me.

It didn't take us long until we found a place in the small car. We had hardly sat on our seats when the driver drove away. Surprised by the sudden movement Hyuk stared outside with wide eyes. He had his mouth slightly open in astonishment.  
"Look! Look! The world moves", he said fascinated while starring at the moving landscape.

I smiled. Slowly, I moved closer to him and started playing with his hair. I enjoyed the feeling of his soft hair against my fingers. It seemed to me as if it had been ages since the last time I had done anything like this. I missed to have someone around me. I missed my HyukJae.

As if I had burnt my fingers, I hastily pulled my hand away from his hair and starred outside. Inwardly, I railed at me for what I had done a few seconds ago. How could I do such a thing? How could I enjoy it when the person with whom I always had done it with was no longer with me?  
A silent tear formed itself at the simple thought of him and found halting its way down on my cheek.

Hyuk, who had noticed my sudden change, looked at me with questioning eyes. When he discovered the tear he stretched out his hand and I wiped it gently away. The light touch of his hand on my skin left a pleasant tingling sensation. I closed my eyes and thereby let another tear appear. Again I felt him gently wiped the tear away from my cheek. When I opened my eyes again, he smiled at me encouragingly.

The car slowed down. When I glanced outside, I realized that we would reach our destination soon. Ahead of us the small rose garden to which the little car has to travel to, come in sight. At the sight of the approaching entrance a faint smile crept back onto my face.

"We're almost there", I informed the merman, who still looked at me with a worried expression.  
Immediately, he let his eyes wander back outside. His face lit up when he saw the beauty of the small garden next to him. Excited, he tugged my sleeve and asked me again where we were going to. Again I didn't tell him anything. He would see soon enough where I was bringing him to.  
Hyuk let himself sink deeper into his seat while pouting and turning his eyes away from me.

 

_Somehow, he looked cute when he was pouting._

 

I quickly shook my head to get that thought out of my head. I couldn't and shouldn't think like that.

The car stopped abruptly in front of the gate and let the passengers get off. Everyone around us got up and got off the vehicle.  
I helped Hyuk to get on his feet and pulled him closer to me again to help him walk. Carefully made the young merman one step after another. His legs began to tremble dangerously under him.

"We will walk around a little bit. I hope that's okay with you", I warned him.  
In response Hyuk nodded while biting softly on his lower lip. Concern spread in his eyes.  
"Don't worry. I'm with you. If necessary, I'll carry you there. I promise", I said encouragingly, and immediately earned a shy smile in return.

Step by step we got closer to the place I aimed for. The road that was so familiar to me seemed to be incredibly long today. Because of the small steps we were taking it took us forever to even reach the small bridge we had to cross over. Again and again we made little breaks so he won't be overexert. Despite the many breaks that we took, we soon reached the place I wanted to show him; the Australian Pavilion of the Seoul zoo.

"Welcome to Australia", I shouted happily and pointed to the entrance of the pavilion.  
Hyuk looked at me skeptically, but then slowly turned his gaze to the entrance of the pavilion. He tilted his head slightly as he looked at the people as well as the environment. With a very confused expression in his eyes he turned back to me.  
"But ... you said that we are in South Korea. How can we be in Australia now?", he asked confused and looked at me with questioning eyes.

"We are still in South Korea. I can't bring you to Australia. I can only take you to a place where you can see the animals that are living there. I work here part time as an animal caregiver. One of my best friends, who is also here today, is in charge of this pavilion today. With a little bit of luck, you can help with the feeding later. Maybe it's enough to be near the animals, so you won't... you know. It's worth a try. Do not you think?", I asked while pulling him with me to the kangaroo enclosure.  
After a few steps we reached the barrier and had a clear view of the Kangaroos. The younger animals jumped around playfully and fought out smaller fights while the older kangaroos were resting in the shade.

With a smile on my face, I watched the animals. Hyuk also seemed to be delighted with the joyfully bouncing animals. His eyes sparkled as he enthusiastically watched how a baby kangaroo was unsteady on his legs while the mother sniffed and nudged it softly.

"Ha! I knew that I saw you, hyung! You probably aren't able to spend one single day without those little monsters. Am I right?", I suddenly heard the familiar voice yell behind me. Immediately, I turned to my best friend KiBum, who greeted me with a big grin.  
While turning around I loosened my grip on Hyuk's waist. The merman also detached himself from me and clung firmly to the fence of the kangaroo enclosure. Concerned, I looked at him from the corner of my eye as he only held himself on his feet with great effort. I wanted to support him, but the critical eye KiBum's stopped me.

"Who is that?", my best friend asked and pointed with his finger at Hyuk.  
"That's a friend of mine. We recently got to know each other", I told him but those information’s weren't enough for my best friend. I sighed. I just wanted to tell him more about how Hyuk and I met each other when I noticed out of the corner of my eye that Hyuk's legs dangerously began to tremble. I immediately rushed to his aid and escorted him to a nearby bench.

"I'll be back soon, Hyuk-ah. OK?", I asked and smiled at him encouragingly.  
Almost imperceptibly the young merman nodded. Hyuk looked down in embarrassment and let his legs dangle slightly back and forth.

Hastily I turned back to my best friend. He eyed Hyuk with a strange look in his eyes. I didn't like how he was looking at him.  
When I finally was standing in front of KiBum again, grabbed the younger my wrist and pulled me away. After a few meters, he finally let go of my wrist and stopped walking. Concerned, I turned my head to the blue-haired man. I sighted in relief when I realized that he was still sitting in the same place and watched the kangaroos in the enclosure.

"What's that?", asked KiBum angrily.  
"What's what?” I asked, confused.  
"You know exactly what I am talking about," he hissed while looking at me furiously.  
Confused, I stared at my best friend. What was he talking about? Had I done something wrong again? Was he still mad at me because of the thing with my family?

"Haven't you noticed it yet?" He asked reproachfully.  
I slowly shook my head as I still didn't know what he was talking about. My best friend sighed theatrically and pointed with his finger at Hyuk. My eyes followed his finger, and finally rested on the small figure a little further away from us. Hyuk seemed to enjoy the good weather and the sight in front of him very much. A happy smile had appeared on his face.  
I forced myself to look away from the merman and I turn back to my best friend. I still didn't understand what he was trying to tell me.

"You really didn't notice it? The similarity is so obvious"  
"Similarity?", I asked even more confused than before.  
KiBum took a deep breath and looked at me reproachfully. I blinked a few times bewildered. I didn't understand what my best friend was trying to tell me.

"He looks like HyukJae Hyung. You must have noticed that too! When I've seen you two together a few seconds ago, it looked as if HyukJae Hyung was standing there beside you"  
"Nonsense!", I cried resentfully.  
"Hyuk doesn't look similar to my HyukJae at all. You're imagining things"  
"Do I? Listen to me, Hyung. I miss HyukJae Hyung too. I understand that you still grieve for him. I know that only three weeks have passed since the accident happened, but you need to try to let him go and continue to live your life. You won't be able to do so with someone by your side who looks like him and even has his name", said my best friend quietly while looking at me directly. His eyes showed compassion but also concern.

I shook my head in disbelief. Hyuk doesn't look like my HyukJae! Yes, they have the same names syllables, but Hyuk is a very popular syllable. Many men have this syllable in their name.

"Are you saying that I was looking for a replacement for my HyukJae? KiBum-ah, we know each other since the day I moved to Seoul. You should know that..."  
"When someone dies it's a shock to all who had known that person. Please, DongHae Hyung. Give yourself more time to recover from your shock of losing him. You'll soon see you will get to know someone... "  
"Kim KiBum!", I yelled and interrupted his little speech.  
I didn't want to hear how I would meet someone new in the future. Someone I could love as much as HyukJae. No one would be able to take his place. Nobody!

I gave KiBum an angry look and abruptly turned away from him. After a few steps, I heard my best friend ran after me. He grabbed after my wrist again but I shook his hand off.  
"Hyung, listen to me, please," I heard my best friend say with a whining voice.  
Furious, I turned to him.

"Leave me alone!", I yelled angrily and glared at him furiously.  
"Then go! But don't come crawling back to me when everything collapses under you again", KiBum said offended and hurried away.  
I turned away from him and went back to the still quietly waiting merman. When I reached the blue-haired man, he looked up at me shyly. His eyes met mine briefly before he turned away from me to look at the kangaroos in front of us.

"You have fought with him because of me. Right?", he asked softly as I sat down on the bench beside him.  
I kept silent. I didn't want to repeat the allegations of my best friend. It isn't true that I was with Hyuk because he looked like my HyukJae. How could he even claim such a thing? They don't even look alike! He didn't know the circumstances that brought me and Hyuk together. Moreover, Hyuk and my HyukJae couldn't be more different. If KiBum would give Hyuk even a tiny chance he would recognize this too.

"Should we go to another place? Over there, there are more animals from Australia. Maybe you can find what you are looking for over there", I said to break the silence between us and stood up. I wanted to help Hyuk to get up, but he wouldn't let me. His hands clung to the front edge of the bench. He clung himself so tightly to the cold concrete that his fingers turned white.

"What was the fight about?", Hyuk suddenly asked without lifting his eyes once from the kangaroos.  
"I don't want to talk about it," I said and sat beside the merman on the bench again. There was a long silence oppressive. No one wanted to say something and yet each one of us longed for a few words of the other to break this awkward silence.

An almost soundless sigh finally broke the silence between us. I immediately looked at the young man beside me.  
"I think that he wants the best for you. You're lucky to have someone like him by your side. It isn't given to have someone like him in your life. I don't have someone like him. Since I can remember I was alone", Hyuk said and sadly looked at the ground.

"What's with your family? Where are they?", I asked interested.  
Hyuk lifted his head to look at me and cocked his head. Thoughtfully, he eyed me before he asked what a family was. I blinked in confusion. Did he really not know what a family was? I haltingly tried to explain it to him, but instantly regretted telling him.

Hyuk's eyes seemed to become sadder with every word I said. A lone tear trickled down on his cheek. Before it arrived at his jaw, he vigorously wiped it away with his sleeve. Tormented Hyuk then tried to smile, but he failed.

"Such a thing doesn't exist where I come from" he said almost inaudibly while sobbing a little.  
"That can't be. Everyone has a father and a mother. Whether we like it or not", I said, but one look at Hyuk, made me immediately become silent again.  
Violently shook the Merman his head and then looked at me with big sad eyes.

"We don't get born to this world like you. I told you that I am going to become... sea foam, if I don't find this thing that distributes the cold in me. We are becoming sea foam, because we are created from it. If in a starry night, a sailor expresses a beautiful wish, the foam around the boat of the sailor will transform into a merman or a mermaid", Hyuk explained haltingly. He wanted to tell me more, but when he opened his mouth to speak no words came out.

His eyes rested again on the small baby kangaroo that now was trying to slip back into the mother's pouch. As the little thing was clumsy, the baby kangaroo couldn't make it without falling once before it crawled into the pouch of its mother.  
When the little creature rested safely in its mother pouch, a gentle smile appeared on the face of the man beside me. His eyes on the other hand remained sad.

"I wish I have had something like that too. It might would have been a little more bearable to live with the pain and the cold within me if I hadn't always been alone. Maybe...", Hyuk muttered softly to himself sadly.  
He strengthened this grip on the edge of the bench even more. Concerned, I looked up from his clenched hand to his sad face. A soft sob got in my ears. I saw how the young merman tried not to break into tears again. The gentle smile had disappeared from his face.

I carefully touched his left hand and drove gently with my finger over it. I could feel the muscles loosen up under my fingers. When I again looked up at him I noticed how he followed the movements of my fingers on his hand with his eyes.  
I put my hand on his and smiled at him. Large slightly reddened eyes looked up at me. One last sob escaped his throat. He wanted to say something, but he didn't seem to find the words to do so. Reassuring I ran my thumb over the back of his hand without lifting my hand from his.

Without a warning Hyuk threw himself on me and pressed his body closer to mine. He buried his head deep in my chest and then let his tears run free. Cold wetness penetrated the fibers of my shirt to my skin.  
His tears tore me back to reality. Immediately I put my arms around the trembling creature in front of me and patted his head slowly. I felt how he began to sob even harder and started rubbing his face against my chest. I didn't want to see him cry again. He deserves to be happy. He deserves it just as much as anyone else does. Why was life so hard on him?

"Shhht ... Everything will be all right. I am with you now", I whispered to him soothingly.  
My words affect him. Almost immediately his sobs became silent. The young man looked up at me with completely red eyes. His face sparkled in the sun because of his tears.  
For quite a long time he just looked me in the eye. Finally, a tankful smile started to form on his face. I was enchanted. Although his face was overflown with tears, it looked like that of an angel. I felt my heart quicken at the sight. My heart was pounding hard in my chest. My breath caught.

The blue-haired man moved even closer to me and leaned his head back against my chest. The heat emanating from his body felt strangely familiar and yet good. I hate to admit it at this moment but I really liked it to hold him in my arms.

"Thank you", Hyuk murmured over and over again while new tears appeared and lost their battle against gravity.  
I barely was able to hear his words. Even if I had heard them, I wouldn't have understood them well at this moment. The only thing I could hear clearly was my loud heartbeat.

 

**Dugun Dugun**


	4. Chapter 4

**DongHae POV**

 

"We're almost there," I said to the semi-dormant merman who I piggybacked for almost an hour now.  
Wearily leaned Hyuk his head on my shoulder and tightened his grip with his arm around my neck to avoid falling off of me. Immediately I told him to loosen his grip as it got really hard to breathe normally with him clinging on me like this. It worked... for a short while.  
As sooner as the Merman loosened his grip slightly, he immediately tightened it again after a few meters. Again I told him to stop clinging so tightly on me as I also needed air to breathe.

"Hyuk-ah," I said in an admonishing tone and slightly out of breath to which the young merman only began to yawn tired. I sighed and tightened my grip on his legs to push him higher. The sudden upward movement woke the merman up from his doze immediately. Almost instantly he clung himself even tighter to me. Once again I warned the blue-haired man. He immediately understood and loosened his grip instantly.

"I'm sorry," he said embarrassed and buried his face in my neck. I felt how his warm breath tickled my neck and left a delightful warmth on my skin. I swallowed loudly once. I wanted to tell him that he should stop doing that, but those words didn't want to come out of my mouth.

I silently carried the young man through the crowded streets of Myungdong. I noticed how some passersby stared at us curiously, and occasionally whispered something to the person next to them. The words they said didn't came to my ears because of the loud music of the many cosmetics shops next to us, but based on the eyes they were giving us they seemed not very pleased about our appearance.

A silent sigh escaped my throat. That sigh didn't escape me unnoticed. As sooner as the barely audible sound had left my mouth, I felt how Hyuk started to move on my back. Slowly he leaned forward to be able to see my face.  
"Is something wrong? I really tried to not cling so tightly on you again", I heard the young man on my back say worriedly. I smiled and shook his head slightly. Visibly relieved, the blue-haired merman nestled himself on me again. I felt how he relaxed a little. A quick glance at his face told me that he had closed his eyes. The young man didn't sleep though. Nevertheless, not much was missing until he would find his way to his dream land. A soft smile crept onto my face as I watched the relaxed facial features of the young man.

I tried to walk as slowly and gently as possible, so that the merman was able to fall asleep. To my surprise, I managed that quite well. Throughout the rest of the way to Namdemun hardly anyone bumped into me. I also managed to open the door and climb the stairs to my little attic apartment without any major problems. As I stood in front of my apartment door, I looked again at the young man's relaxed face. He still had his eyes closed. It almost seemed as if he had fallen asleep on the way, but his breathing betrayed him. Too restless and too fast moved his chest against my back.

I carefully pulled out the key to the front door and slowly turned it in the lock. A faint click told me that the door was unlocked now. Immediately I turned the handle and opened the door. Without hesitation, I walked to my bed and tried as gentle as possible to lay the young man on the soft mattress. An undertaking that already threatened to fail from the start. When Hyuk realized that I wanted to free his arms around my neck, he clung himself even tighter on me. I stroked soothingly over his arms. This showed its effect on him... but only for an instance. Nevertheless, I use the short time to lose his grip and gently put him on my bed.

Hyuk grumbled something under his breath and opened his eyes briefly, but soon closed them again and forced himself to rest. A short break, the young merman urgently needed. Throughout the day he had held himself bravely on his legs. He wanted to even see a few other animals from other regions and even dared to do his first steps on his own. Although he ended up landing quite hard on the ground, he seemed to be really happy with his result.

The young merman turned to the side and calmly began to doze. I smiled gently and pulled out a thin blanket with which I covered him. Immediately took the young man the thin fabric and wrapped it tightly around him. His breathing started to calm down very quickly. It would not take long until he would finally fall asleep.

A long strand had fallen into his face while he turned himself. Hesitantly, I brushed the strand of hair away from his face and let my hand rest on his soft hair for a while. Surprised, I pulled away from him when I felt how the young man nuzzled his head like a cat on my palm in his sleep.

Thoughtful I looked at the blue-haired man. Was KiBum right? Does Hyuk really look like my HyukJae? Although I now looked at him more closely, I couldn't see any resemblance between those two. Neither physically nor when it comes to character did he resemble my HyukJae. Was KiBum imagining things? It looks like it. Who else knows HyukJae better than I do? I would have immediately seen the resemblance.

I abruptly stood up and walked into the kitchen. There I leaned against the work surface and put my head back slightly to leaned it on the closet cupboard door. My mind was racing. HyukJae as well as Hyuk made my thoughts spin endlessly. Especially the behavior of the merman this afternoon occupied my thoughts. He had the best mood all afternoon. Not even once had the sad thoughts returned to him. At least it had looked like that to me.

A loud rumbling in my stomach tore me away from my thoughts. Embarrassed, I put my hands on my growling stomach and glanced over to the bed, where the merman was sleeping. The young man didn't seem to have heard anything. Relieved, I took a deep breath. Unfortunately, my stomach didn't seem to have meant it well for me as it let the same unpleasant sound appear once again.

I immediately filled my rice cooker and let a new portion of rice cook. I took some vegetables and even the last remnants of the meat that I had bought two days ago out of the fridge and laid it on the work surface. I looked at the amount of vegetables and meat and try to consider whether this would be enough for two people or not. It will be a tight squeeze, but it could be enough for both of us.

As noiselessly as possible I tried to cut the vegetable and the pork in stripes to fry them later in the only pan I own. Unfortunately my gas stove didn't want to play that game. Loud clicking sounds of the lighter echoed through the apartment. When finally fairly decent flames appeared, I threw a quick glace back to the living room. Hyuk seemed to be completely unaware of what's happening around him. Relieved, I exhaled and began to roast the meat as well as the vegetables over the fire. Soon a delicious spicy fragrance filled the room. The smell of food made my stomach growl again. I didn't give any attention to it. I rather concentrated myself on frying everything evenly.

A loud crash finally pulled me out of my concentration and made me look up from the pan. Hyuk was laying only a few feet from the bed away on the floor. The fact that he just fell didn't seem to bother him at all. His eyes were closed while he raised his nose and sleepily sniffed the air. I smiled and rushed to help him get up again.  
"That smells good. What is it?", he asked, gesturing with his finger to the pan, which I had supervised a few seconds ago. I told him that he would see what it is in a few minutes. I guided him back to my bed and turned the TV on for him. Confused, the young man looked from the TV-screen to me and blinked a few times. I smiled at him and handed him the remote control. Immediately I began to explain to him what button for what was, but Hyuk didn't seem to understand what I was trying to tell him. With big inquiring eyes he was looking at me. He was about to ask me something when an acrid smell of smoke got to my nose.

I quickly turned back to the kitchen and saw how a light black veil came out of the pan. Cursing, I ran up to the smoking thing and began to stir in its content. Although most of the vegetables were OK they didn't seem very usable anymore. I picked one vegetable stick up and took a bite. Disgusted I pulled a face and let the rest of the stick fall into the pan again.  
I sighed and put the pan into the washing trough and began to scour my fridge once again. Nothing useful could be found there. With another sigh, I closed the refrigerator and grabbed my phone to order something. Although my wallet would be against it, I needed something to eat. Now! He surely could use some food too.

I dialed the confided number and walked out of the kitchen into the living room. My gaze wandered to Hyuk. I froze in shock. Someone from the delivery service picked the phone up, but I ended the phone call without even saying a word.  
The young merman held a framed picture in his hand and looked at it. Interest was glittering in his eyes. I quickly walked up to him and snatched the picture from his hand. I let my eyes wander over the old photograph. A stone-large lump formed itself in my throat and made it difficult for me to breathe. It was the photo that was taken just after HyukJae and I became a couple. My fingers ran over the glass where his face was visible.

"Who is that?", Hyuk asked curiously while leaning forward, trying to look at the picture again.  
My eyes still lingered on the picture. Lost in the moment and captured by a piece of paper, I sat down beside him and clutched the frame tightly.

"This is HyukJae," I said slowly and with difficulty.  
Hyuk didn't seem to notice my tone. Curious, he leaned toward the frame and then looked up at me.  
"Is he a good friend of yours? Can I meet him too?", he asked and looked at me hopefully. I smiled bitterly and tightened my grip on the frame even more.

"That won't be possible. HyukJae died in a boating accident three weeks ago", I said drily. I didn't want to talk more about it, but Hyuk peppered me with further questions.  
"Is that the one your friend was talking about? The one who supposed to look like me?", he asked whereupon I was staring at him questioningly. He had heard that? That was impossible; we were standing too far away from him.

I was dwelling on my thoughts until I noticed how Hyuk still looked at me quizzically. I nodded slowly which caused the merman to eye the photo again.  
"He means a lot to you. Am I right? How did you meet?", he asked curiously. To my own surprise a smile drew itself on my face by the mere thought of HyukJae and how we met. I was reluctant to tell a stranger something as personal as this. I was about to put away the frame and pick up the phone to order us something to eat when Hyuk stopped me from doing so by gently holding me back by my arm.  
"Please tell me", he pleaded and looked at me with big puppy eyes. I sighed and was about to refuse again, but something in me didn't allow it. I nodded briefly and reaped soon after an exclamation of joy by the blue-haired man who now no longer looked sleepy.

"HyukJae belonged to one of the most respected families here in Seoul. He had money and reached everything he had set his mind on. No matter how harebrained his ideas were, he always thought it would be worth a try. When I met him... I thought that he was playing with people and their feelings. I had heard a lot about him and that's why my prejudices against him were huge", I told him haltingly.  
"Then you... didn't like him?", Hyuk asked and cocked his head.

I laughed.  
"In the beginning I didn't. I couldn't stand him at all. He had set his mind of getting to know me. Suddenly he was everywhere I was. He came to the same university, rented a flat close by. I found that extremely annoying and uncomfortable. One thing you had to leave him; he had stamina. No matter how many times I rejected him, he came back the next day to ask me out again. The funny thing is that I had fallen gradually for him without realizing it. I was not aware of my own feelings, until one day he stopped asking me out", I told him and started to laugh shortly before I continued my story.

"He started to ignore me and to take care of other people. That was the day when it struck me. Throughout the day I had been watching him, waiting for that he would still come over to me. He had kept an eye on me during the day therefore he had noticed my reaction and the looks I gave him. On the same evening he was standing in front of my door and dragged me out to his boat so we could talk in peace. Kind of ironic, that the place where we got together and the place that has torn us apart are the same."  
Sadly I looked at the floor and tried to recover the smile that had disappeared at the end of the story.

Only when suddenly two arms wrapped around me, I looked up. Hyuk had noticed how my mood constantly lowered and had taken me in his arms to give me some comfort. When he noticed that I looked at him he smiled at me encouragingly. My heart was suddenly beating higher. I enjoyed the feeling of having someone with me again. It was good...

Abruptly I stood up and left a slightly confused merman back on the bed. I took my phone and dialed again the number of the delivery service. It didn't take long until a young sounding woman answered the phone at the other side of the line.  
Without hesitation, I ordered the food I wanted. The woman on the other site of the line repeated again and told me that the delivery man would be with me in about 50 minutes. I finished the call, put the phone on my bedside table and informed Hyuk about the food supply before I disappeared into the kitchen to clean the mess I've made.

Hyuk looked after me pensively. He didn't say anything. He just stared at me with sad eyes and pushed his lower lips a little further forward. Pouting, he sat on my bed and waited patiently for me to come back to him. I, however, worked slower than usual. I didn't want to go back to him. His closeness... scared me. Although his embrace felt good, I felt like a cheater by allowing him to do it.

"DongHae-yah~", I suddenly heard Hyuk call, which made me slowly turn around to face him.  
My eyes widened in shock when I saw the slender man standing next to the bed dressed only with the oversized t-shirt I gave him this morning. The pants he had worn a few minutes ago were lying beside the bed. Heat rose to my face. I immediately went back to my already clean pan and began to scrub harder.

"Have I done something wrong?", he asked and I heard how he made a few clumsy steps forward.  
"I don't want you to be angry at me", he said with a whining sound in his voice.  
I listened how he slowly came closer to me. His footsteps sounded very uneven and uncertain. As I turned to him, he had already successfully crossed half the room. Hyuk didn't expect me to turn towards him. As he realized that I was facing him, he made a few unwary steps towards me and began to stumble dangerously. With difficulty was Hyuk holding himself on his feet but if he continued like this, this wouldn't end well.

Intuitively, I went up to him, put my arm around his waist to support him and led him back to the bed. Hyuk looked at me embarrassed and finally lowered his gaze. A clear red veil appeared on his face. At the sight of that, I felt the sudden urge to take him in my arm. The mere thought of it made my heart race and beat wildly against my chest.

"Are you mad at me?", Hyuk asked softly without raising his eyes.  
"No, I'm not", I replied and made the young merman smile again with those words.  
"Then I'm glad", he said and smiled at me charmingly.  
Again, I felt my heart quicken. Fear came over me. I couldn't and shouldn't feel that way. But why is my heart beating so fast when I see him smile. I couldn't possibly... No, that can't be.

I just wanted to turn away from him when suddenly the doorbell rang. Relieved to have an excuse to remove myself from him, I got up and opened the door. The supplier greeted me kindly, and finally handed me a little box with the food I had ordered a few minutes ago. When I gave the supplier the money he bid his goodbye and left.

With the box in my hand I went back into my apartment and set it down next to a small table. I quickly started to put the dishes on the table and prepare them for eating. While I was doing these preparations, I felt how curious eyes were looking at me.  
From the corner of my eye I saw how Hyuk got up from the bed and started to walk towards me. He mastered the short way with flying colors. Somehow this made me very proud. During the short time he had really made an amazing progress. Hyuk also seemed to be more than satisfied with himself.

Beaming with joy, he sat down across from me and looked at the two dishes, side dishes and rice with curious eyes. I took the chopsticks, which got delivered with the meal, out of the box and handed him a pair. With an inquiring expression on his face, he looked at the two metal sticks and looked up at me to see what I was doing with them. He immediately tried to copy me, but failed miserably when it came to eating rice. Again and again he tried to clamp a small pile between the sticks, but his efforts were fruitless. After a while he gave up. He put the metal sticks loudly on the table and started to eat the rice from the small silver bowl with his fingers.

Joyfully he stuffed the white rice in his mouth. Not long, however, and he began to pucker his face in disgust.  
"This tastes like nothing", he claimed and put the bowl with the rice back on the table.  
His eyes wandered to the other goodies. Reluctantly, he took the small bowl of Kimchi and sniffed it briefly. He didn't seem to like the smell of Kimchi either. Rapidly he pushed the plate further away from him.  
"This red thingy has no taste either" he said and began to pout.  
"That can't be", I replied and grabbed after the Kimchi to smell if the merman was right.  
The spicy scent of the half-fermented Chinese cabbage came to my nose. I looked at him quizzically and said that I could very well smell something. But Hyuk didn't want to listen to me and insisted that it had no taste. Sighing, I got up and took my spice box from the kitchen and put it on the table in front of him. Hyuk looked questioningly at the spices. Finally he took one after the other to sniff them. None of them seemed to please him rudimentary.

When he finally reached for the salt, I stopped him.  
"That's salt. You can't mix that into your food. I don't want to see you getting hurt again. I put the salt back to the kitchen", I said, but Hyuk refused to give me the jar.  
"Why should this hurt me?", he said defiantly and opened the lid of the salt container.  
"This isn't sea water, right? So it shouldn't harm me", he said sullenly, took a pinch of salt between his fingers and sprinkled it over the bare skin of his legs.

Shocked, I stood up and rushed to his side in order to take care of the wounds I expected to see, but no wounds appeared. Confused, I blinked a few times before I looked at him questioningly.  
"Only saltwater can do what you saw yesterday. During the two days I can hardly approach the sea. My skin is reacting like this because I'm the first time on land. When those two days are over, I can live in the sea and on land", he explained to me as he poured himself an overdose of salt over his rice. Happily he began to eat the overly salted rice.

 

°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°

 

"That was delicious", Hyuk said while he satisfied patted his stomach.  
I stared at him in shock. Never have I seen anyone eat like that. Again and again, my eyes wandered between the now almost empty salt container and the remaining food back and forth. Sadly I looked at the bowl with the Kimchijige in which a lump of salt swam.

Sighing, I cleared the leftovers and the bowls back in the box and put it in front of the door so that the supplier could take it back. With quick steps I went into the kitchen and pulled out a roll of paper towels that I gave him so he could clean his fingers. He gratefully accepted it, but didn't quite understand what to do with the paper. I took the role away from him again and began to help him clean himself. Beaming with joy, he watched me cleaning him.

"DongHae~", he suddenly called as I disappeared into the kitchen to put the role away and to get a glass of water. With the glass in hand, I came back to hear what he wanted to say to me. I gleefully took a sip from my glass as he began to speak

"Are you again going to sleep with me?", he asked hopefully while looking at me pleadingly.  
Out of shock about his question I spit out the water. I coughed and tried to calm me down. I was aware that he had meant it the innocent way, and yet my heart began to beat incredibly fast. When I calmed down a little, I looked up at him.

With concern in his eyes watched me the young merman. Embarrassed, he bit his lower lip and eventually asked if he'd said something wrong. I quickly shook my head whereupon Hyuk began to smile satisfied.

"Are you tired?", I asked him, whereupon Hyuk hesitantly nodded.  
I immediately got up to accompany him to the bed. As soon as I had put him on it, I rushed to the closet to get him a pajama. The blue-haired man began to look at the clothes critically when I returned with the pajamas. Especially the pants didn't seem to be to his liking.

"Those things are uncomfortable", he cried tearfully while letting the pants fall to the ground.  
"I keep those on. They're not comfortable too but they're better than those", he whined while pointing to his boxers. Embarrassed, I bit my lips and allowed him to sleep like that because I slowly longed for a restful sleep as well.

Hyuk happily put on the pajama top and laid himself down, ready to sleep. I started to make my berth on the ground but Hyuk seemed to oppose to the idea of sleeping separated. He asked me to come to him and started to pout when I simply shook my head. I refused at first, but since Hyuk begged over and over again I finally gave in. I turned off the light and crawled into bed with him.

Satisfied Hyuk crawled closer to me. With relish, he snuggled up to me and finally put his head on my chest. I was stunned by the sudden closeness. Yes, I fell asleep with him in my arm yesterday, but the situation was somehow different today.

I bit my bottom lip and waited for the merman to fall asleep. Hyuk immediately noticed that something was wrong and sat up to look at me.  
"Is something wrong?", he asked concerned.  
I hastily shook my head and told him that he should sleep now.

Hyuk looked at me and put his head slightly askew. Finally he shrugged his shoulders briefly and then laid himself down again quite close to me. Something still seemed to bother the blue-haired man, because he straightens back up again. He looked at me with small eyes, grabbed my left arm and put it over himself. He sighed blissfully as he snuggled himself against my chest.  
I laughed softly. So he wanted to be held before he falls asleep.

 

"Hae-yah? Are you sleeping?", I heard him suddenly ask beside me after we kept silent for quite a while.  
I didn't answer him. If he thought I was asleep he might soon close his eyes and fall asleep as well. So I thought but Hyuk had other plans.  
"Hae-yah, can I stay with you? I don't want to go back to the sea", the merman softly but clearly audible asked. He pressed himself closer to me and nuzzled his head against my chest.

“I like you”

Silence.  
My heart skipped a beat and started to pound mercilessly against my chest. I was sure that he could hear the loud beats and yet he remained lying calmly next to me.  
"I know that sounds crazy, but I really like you", he said now even quieter and clutched himself closer to me. He began to tremble slightly.

Panic rose within me. I wasn't ready for someone new and yet I had the feeling that it could be the right thing to do, to start anew now. Why else would I react like this? Not even HyukJae had made my heart beat this fast, and yet... Tomorrow was his last day. If he didn't find what he was looking for, he would...  
The mere thought of tomorrow caused in me a queasy feeling. I was scared. I was scared of being hurt again. Scared... to lose him.

I pulled him closer into my arms which scared Hyuk and let him back away a little from me.  
"Are you asleep or awake?", He asked softly against my chest.  
I stroked his back soothingly what seemed to be enough of a response for him.  
"You have heard what I said before, right?", Hyuk asked ashamed and pressed himself closer to me.  
"I did", I said while calmly stroking his back.  
I felt how Hyuk made himself smaller beside me. Also, seemed the diminutive man not to be sure whether he should stay close to me or not. Restless, he slid back and forth. I tightened my grip on him and let him get some rest next to me.

"I'm sorry," he suddenly said and wanted to push himself away from me but I kept holding him tightly in my arms. He tried to free himself from my grip, but I was stronger than him.  
Exhausted, he let his head fall against my chest and began to sob quietly.

"Don't cry, Hyuk-ah. I don't like it when you cry", I said quietly and slightly loosened my grip to be able to run my hand over his cheek.  
"I don't cry", the young merman said defiantly and sniffed once loudly. The touch of my hand made him somehow calm down a little. It didn't take long until he was silently lying next to me again while he clung himself to me.

While my hand stroked Hyuk's cheek, he closed his eyes briefly and leaned slightly against my hand. I slowly stroked his soft skin, enjoying the feel of his warm skin against my fingers. Hyuk also didn't seem to feel any different.  
I gently ran my fingers along his jaw line. When I reached his chin, I slightly lifted his head with his fingers. I heard Hyuk briefly holding his breath. My heart was racing.  
Cautiously, I leaned down to him and gave him a quick kiss on the forehead. To my surprise, he didn't flinch. Satisfied, I put my arms around him and wanted to pull him even closer to me when Hyuk pulled himself up to me. It didn't take long until we were eye to eye with each other.

Through the faint moonlight, I could see that he was biting his lip while continually staring at me. Finally he slightly leaned his head closer to mine. I followed his example and moved my head slowly towards his. When I could feel his warm breath on my face, I paused for a moment and asked myself if I really wanted to do this. Do I really want to kiss him?  
The mere thought of his full lips made little butterflies appear in my stomach and yet I hesitated.

My eyes widened in shock when I saw how Hyuk slowly came closer. Only a few seconds later I felt how he softly laid his lips on mine. The kiss was gentle, almost fleeting. As suddenly as I had felt his soft lips on mine, he pulled away from me again. He quickly raised his hand and touched the spot where our lips have met. With the other hand he clutched onto my shirt. Although it was dark, I could have sworn that his face had a reddish tone again.

Even if his lips only had fleetingly striped mine, a pleasant tingling sensation spread on the point where he had laid his lips on. I wanted... more.  
Cautiously I raised my hand and took his hand away from his lips. Slowly he looked up at me timidly. A gentle smile appeared on my face before I bent down to him to capture his lips once again.  
I gently put my lips to his and began to move hesitantly. It felt good and right to share such an innocent kiss with him. A pleasant shiver went down my spine.

Hyuk seemed to be a little surprised about my actions. Paralyzed he lay next to me and just let me engross his lips. With big eyes, he stared at me. After a short while, he slowly began to close his eyes and enjoyed the hesitant touch of our lips. When he also began to move his lips against mine, I felt small fireworks explode in my stomach.  
Blissfully sighting I wrapped my arms tighter around him to pull him closer to me. Hyuk briefly interrupted the soft kiss as he felt the movement. Quickly he laid his arm around me to be even closer to me. I could feel the heat emanating from his body and enjoyed it to the fullest.

I playfully pocked his nose with mine to which he quietly began to giggle and sassily poke my nose back before he stole another kiss from me. Happy I smiled into the kiss while I kissed him back. I let my hands slowly but certainly slide down his back from which I reaped a languorous moan from his side.

After a while we tore our lips from each other. For quite a long time we just lay there while starring into each other’s eyes. None of us said a word. We didn't need any. Happily we clung to each other and enjoyed the closeness.

Hyuk began to yawn tiredly, slid down a little and leaned his head gently against my chest. Like a cat, he snuggled his head a little later on me and put his arms loosely around me before he closed his heavy eyelids. It didn't take long until his breathing slowed down and his chest rose and fell regularly against mine.  
I smiled and raised my hand to gently stroke through his soft hair. I really enjoyed the feeling of having him this close to me.

After I had watched him sleep for a few minutes, I tried as gently as possible to turn away from him. An undertaking that turned out to be more difficult than I had thought. As soon as he felt me move away Hyuk strengthened his grip around me. After several attempts I finally managed to escape from his embrace and stood up.

Quietly I took my phone from the bedside table and opened the electronic telephone book. I quickly scrolled through the many names and numbers that I had saved in there. When the name appeared, that I was looking for, I stopped for a moment. Should I really call?  
A glance at the clock in the upper right corner of my phone. It was already after 11PM. He was probably already sleeping right now. But if I didn't call now, I would probably never call again.

I swallowed and pressed the button, which should connect me to the person to whom the number on my display belonged to. It tooted once. Panic rose in me. I should hang up again but...  
A new toot-tone sounded in my ears and a queasy feeling began to spread in my stomach. I already expected a third tooting but unexpectedly someone answered the phone.

"Are you okay? Has something happened?", the worried sounding voice of my brother asked.  
What should I say now? A huge lump began to form itself in my throat and made it difficult for me to make myself noticeable. I cleared my throat to expel the lump.

"I'll come next weekend", I simply said whereupon my brother began to breathe easier.  
"Don't do that ever again! OK? I thought something bad had happened to you when I saw your name on the screen at this hour", my brother complained in a loud voice so I was forced to stand up and walk a few steps away from the bed.

"I know. I'm sorry", I said while sighting.  
"It's all right. So you'll come next weekend? Our mother will certainly be pleased to have the whole family sitting on one table again soon. Will you take him with you to Mokpo? It might be easier for mother to accept him if she sees him. Who knows, maybe he'll pull her on your side with his charm", he said, now a little quieter and much smoother than before. He laughed softly.

I smiled and went back to the bed and sat on the edge of it. I gently stroked Hyuk's hair. Unconsciously Hyuk responded to the gentle touch. Like a cat he stretched himself to feel the touch of my hand clearer.

 

**"I'll try to”**


	5. Chapter 5

**DongHae POV**

Gently, I ran my fingers through the blue hair of the exhausted man next to me who rested his head on my shoulder and slept soundly. I smiled in satisfaction as I twirled a longer strand between my fingers. Cautiously, I leaned forward to look at his face.

He seemed absolutely calm and relaxed. My eyes wandered over his perfect face and eventually got stuck on his full lips. Those lips... Had I really felt those lips on mine last night? I remembered the hesitant touches of our lips and the feeling that they brought me. The mere thought of it made little butterflies appear in my stomach again.

Happy I pulled Hyuk closer to me whereupon he began to grumble quietly. He quickly squinched up his face. Soon his facial features relaxed again and he snuggled himself closer to me. Lovingly I looked down at his sleeping figure and smiled. I stroked his hair again but this time the merman seemed to notice the contact.

Hyuk hesitantly sat up and looked at me with sleepy eyes. Tired, he yawned once before he closed his eyes again and snuggled closer to me. He gently nuzzled his head on my shoulder and then let it rest there without another word. A chuckle escaped my throat as I watch the drowsy merman next to me. My eyes wandered back over his sleeping face and I just couldn't help grinning happily to myself.

After a while I took my eyes off of him and looked around. The bus we were sitting in didn’t have many passengers. When I looked outside, I realized why.  
Dark clouds heralded a not so friendly looking day. Yet this unpleasant weather didn't seem to stop some people from the city to go to the beach.

My eyes wandered over the familiar landscape. I recognized the place where we were and immediately knew that it wouldn't take long until we would reach Eurwangni Beach.

Instantly, my stomach clenched in fear. If I could I would have gone back to Seoul with the blue-haired man to spend a wonderful lazy day off with him at my house. I would have liked to keep him away from the looming threat that the salt water was for him. Unfortunately, that wasn't possible.  
Not that I haven't tried. When we woke up this morning, I had tried to convince Hyuk to stay at home, but I failed miserably.

I slightly leaned down to the sleeping man next to me and looked at him intently. I didn't want to miss any detail on his face. I wanted to keep him in my memory like this forever. When my eyes landed on his lips again, I leaned even further forward and stole a soft kiss from him.

Slowly I detached my lips from his. I noticed that his eyelids began to flutter and eventually opened hesitantly. Dreamy he looked up at me and clutched himself tightly on me. He closed his eyes and sighed blissfully as he snuggled his head back on my shoulder. I laughed.

"Wake up, Sleeping Beauty", I said, and run gently my hand over his hair.  
A low mumble was heard from Hyuk before he nuzzled his head closer to my neck and pretended to not have heard anything.  
"Wake up", I said again but it didn't seem to have any effect on the merman. Quietly, he breathed in and out and soon it looked as if he's drifting off to his dreamland again. I sighed and tried to push him off of me, so that he would be forced to open his eyes and wake up. When Hyuk realized what I was up to, he tightened his grip on my hip.

A low chuckle suddenly came to my ears. When I looked down at Hyuk, I noticed how he started smiling to himself while he continued to firmly close his eyes. I grinned and pulled him as tight as I could to me. That finally made Hyuk open his eyes. In desperation, the young merman tried to free himself from my tight grip. After several unsuccessful attempts, he finally succeeded.

"You're awake", I exclaimed joyfully and gently pinched his cheek.  
Displeased with my behavior Hyuk started to pout and crossed his arms in front of his chest.  
"You're mean!", he said and turned to the window next him.  
I smiled and gently stroked his hair which somehow seemed to calm him down immediately. Without noticing it he put his head against my hand, enjoying the soft touch to its fullest. Had he been a cat, he certainly would have started to purr, but instead of that he just closed his eyes in pleasure.

Quickly, he turned back to me and leaned himself on me. Without hesitation, I put my right arm around him and pulled him closer to me. Hyuk immediately responded and snuggled up to me. Another blissfully sigh escaped his throat.  
I wanted to lean down to him again when the driver announced that we soon would reach our final destination. Disappointed, I let myself fall against the uncomfortable seat and thereby earned a questioning look from Hyuk. I gave him a quick smile and then glanced outside. Only a few meters were laying between us and the station.

My heart was heavy at the thought that I might lose that wonderful merman by my side in a few hours. I quickly shook my head in hope to dispel those bad thoughts again, but it's was like trying to get blood from a stone.

"Hae-yah?", I heard Hyuk whisper beside me which made my head turn towards him.  
I saw how Hyuk slowly moved towards me. A few seconds later I felt how he put his plump lips on mine. Hesitantly, he moved his lips against mine and waited for me to response. I immediately returned the kiss. Hyuk smiled happily into the kiss. Instantly I tightened my embrace. I sighed with pleasure and tried to deepen our kiss.

I didn’t care if the people, who also went to the beach, saw us or not. Right at this moment only Hyuk and I mattered. Nothing else. I wanted him to be with me forever.

When Hyuk reluctantly pulled away, I felt how the bus began to slow down. Through the window I could already see the bus stop. Saddened by the sight of the little station I looked at Hyuk, who was slightly red around his nose, and informed him that we would arrive soon. Determined nodded the young merman and smiled at me encouragingly.

**"Everything will be all right. I promise"**

One last time I pulled the young merman closer before we got up and left the bus together with a few other passengers.

Hyuk clung himself tightly on me. Happily I put my right arm around his waist to help him to get off the bus. Hyuk smiled gratefully at me. For a second he didn’t pay attention to his steps and began to stumble slightly. Immediately I tightened my grip on him and helped him find his balance again.

Hyuk blushed furiously. He apologized for his clumsiness and thereby lowered his head. I smiled at him, lifted his head with my free hand and gave him a hasty kiss on his nose. Shy Hyuk pressed himself closer to me and tried to hide his now tomato-red head from me.

For a while we just stood there and enjoyed the closeness of each other. When Hyuk had calmed himself down again, he looked up at me. Intuitive I leaned forward and gave him a light kiss on his forehead. Briefly he closed his eyes and began to slightly nestle his head against my chest.

When he opened his eyes again, he finally took a look at our surrounding. With a nod and big pleading eyes, he indicated me that he would like to walk a few steps. I immediately consented to his request and went with him to the nearest staircase that leads to the beach. As we arrived at the first step I stopped walking, so Hyuk could take a look at the sea in its full glory from the top of the hill.

With his mouth half-open, Hyuk looked at his former home. Seagulls swirled in the air and circled over the beach as well as some small part of the water in hope to finding something edible. The roaring waves sounded somehow threatening and yet melodic in my ears. The smell of salt water came through the wind to our noses. Hyuk closed his eyes joyfully and sniffed in the air.

"Do you smell that?", he asked quietly, and slightly began to smile.  
He seemed happy. However, I wasn’t able to smile. In my mind I was already in the future. Fear shot through me by the mere thought of him... becoming foam. Although my little merman had tried to persuade me that everything would go well and assured me that he didn’t believe that it would actually happen, I was afraid. What if he was wrong? He didn’t make it to Australia and I don’t think that he found what he was looking for here in Korea. How could he still smile at the sight of the sea that... would bring death?

"Hae-yah?", Hyuk asked quizzically as he watched me with joyful eyes.  
I took a deep breath and forced myself to smile. When Hyuk pointed with his finger on the horizon, I followed the direction he was pointing at with my eyes. Far away, a small boat rocked slowly back and forth on the water. I questioningly looked down at the blue-haired man.

"Can we try that?", he asked me with big pleading eyes.  
I laughed and ruffled his hair. Amused I told him that we didn’t have a boat to set sails with, which made Hyuk pout slightly.  
"But I want to try that. It looks funny", he softly said, whereupon I pulled him closer to me to hug him. After a while we decided to continue walking and cautiously went down to the beach.

Hyuk didn’t pay much attention to the steps in front of him. He fully trusted me that I look after him and would catch him if he would fall. A task that I gladly accepted.  
Again and again his eyes wandered to the boat on the water and then back to me. Several times he tried to say something but then decided not to do so. I clearly saw how much he wanted to get on a boat to see his world from a different angle. Sadly I wasn’t able to rent a boat. Not that there would have been any boat rental place nearby anyways. At least there were none that I would have known of.

When we arrived at the white sanded beach Hyuk started to eye every little tiny thing on the sandy place with interest. He carefully took one step after the other. Fascinated he observed how his feet slightly sank in with each step. Joyfully he began to laugh. He loosened his grip on me and tried to walk a few steps on his own. As he wasn’t used to walk on a sandy ground, it didn’t take long until he lost his balance and fell.

I immediately rushed to his side to help him getting up again. With a joyful smile greeted me the petite man but when I wanted to pull him up, the merman made himself extra heavy and pulled me to the ground. Laughing Hyuk crawled to me and laid himself down next to me. Without hesitation, I pulled him into my arms and enjoyed the warmth radiating from him and the sand.

"That feels great", Hyuk said and squeezed himself closer to me.  
I nodded and enjoyed the closeness we were sharing. I wished that this moment would last forever, but the thought of the impending kept me from fully enjoying the moment.

"It's not too late. We can still turn back if you want. If you don’t go into the sea..."  
"Whether I go in there or not doesn’t matter. But should I really... you know... I’d rather be in the sea”, he said while staring steadily at the dark clouds above us.  
My heart sank at his words. So… Had he only said those good sounding words to me in the bus as well as at home, to calm me down? My breathing was suddenly going faster when fear overcame me. I wouldn’t to be strong enough to lose someone again that meant so much to me. I probably wouldn't be able to get over it again.

"Don’t worry, everything will be fine. I am sure of it. The voice of the sea protects his charges. It would never...", he began, but made no attempt to finish his sentence.  
I took a deep breath and sat up abruptly. Tears began to form in my eyes. I tried my best to keep them in check. The last thing I wanted now was that Hyuk saw me crying.

I felt how I was hit from behind by small grains. A soft giggle penetrated to my ears despite the noisy waves of the sea. Slowly I turned to face the merman.  
"I hit you", he cheered happily while grinning all over his face.  
I saw how Hyuk wanted to grab some sand again. Before he could do so, I lunged at him and held his wrists to the ground in order to prevent him from throwing the small grains at me again.

Hyuk's bright laughter sounded in my ears and let a pleasant warmth rise within me.  
Playfully Hyuk tried to get the upper hand, but as much as he tried, he wasn’t able to push me off of him. He pushed his lower lip forward and looked up at me with big puppy eyes. I began to laugh at the sight which my little Hyuk didn’t seem to like very much. He frowned and pouted even more.

My eyes got stuck on his pouting full lips, and the sudden desire to feel his lips on mine again overcame me. Slowly I bent down whereupon I hesitantly looked into his eyes.  
Hyuk immediately seemed to understand what I was about to do and expectantly closed his eyes. To see him laying beneath me like this made my heart jump in joy. I couldn't wait to...

"Boats! We rent boats!", exclaimed a loud male voice suddenly.  
Hyuk started to listen attentively and opened his eyes again. He looked up at me with pleading eyes. I sighed and finally released his wrists so we could go to the man who exclaimed that he rents boats. Because of the weather I didn't plan to rent a boat, but at least Hyuk'll be able to see one of these floating things up close.

Hyuk happily skipped beside me, whereupon he increasingly had trouble to keep himself on his feet. Repeatedly his legs buckled because of the sudden weight they had on them. I focused myself so hard on keeping him upright, that I didn't know if we really walked towards the lessor or not. As his voice became louder I assumed, that we were on the right track.

His voice sounded familiar. With every step we took to get closer to the lessor the feeling of knowing that voice got stronger. Since I don't know anyone who worked in this industry, I told myself that I was imagining things. All of my friends were at school or in college at this moment and studied for their exams. I'm definitely imagining things.

"We're almost there", Hyuk said excited and made a short additional jump to illustrate his joy. I laughed and tightened my grip around his waist a little more so he wouldn't fall. That I held him tighter didn't seem to bother Hyuk nor did he notice it. Undeterred, he hopped on.

To reach the man, who incessantly shouted that he rented boats, seemed to take forever. Hyuk began to tremble slightly in excitement. In fact, he was so exited that he wasn't able to say another word. Abruptly he stopped in his track.  
When I looked up and I noticed that I was standing right in front of the seller. My eyes became as big as plates when I realized who was standing in front of me.

"Weren't you the doctor I met the other day?", I asked.  
The lessor looked at me with a puzzled expression, and then shook his head violently.  
"I doubt that we have seen each other before", he said with a friendly smile before he pointed to the boats behind him.  
"Are you interested in renting one of my boats? Today I'll give you any of those beauties for a very special price"  
I glanced towards the sky. The clouds now seemed to be even darker than before. It almost looked as if it would start to rain any time soon. Concerned, I looked between the boats, the sea and Hyuk back and forth. I'd love to do him this favor, but sailing out now could end dangerously if the weather keeps on getting worse.

"I don't think it would be a good idea to rent a boat now", I said factually and wanted to go back to where we came from but Hyuk had something different in mind. Stubbornly he refused to come with me and shook my hands off of him. Confused I looked at my little merman.  
"Hae-yah~", he said whiningly while looking at me with big glittering puppy eyes.  
I sighed and shook my head slowly which made Hyuk lower his head sadly.

"If you want, I'll gladly take the boy out. He seems to really want to do this", the lessor said and wanted to grab Hyuk's arm to take him to one of the boats, but I didn't let the stranger touch him. Nobody is allowed to take that precious little merman away from me!  
Demonstratively I held Hyuk closer to me and glared at him evilly.

"Don't touch him!", I hissed and pulled Hyuk closer.  
"Hae-yah~", Hyuk implored while looking longingly at the boats in front of us.  
Again, I glanced towards the sky. There were still way too many dark clouds above us. Determined I shook my head and wanted to drag him away from the booth, but Hyuk refused to make even a single step.

"You shouldn't only look at the clouds but also at the sea. See! Despite the many clouds and the wind, the sea is calm. Perfect for a small tour with a boat", the lessor tried to convince me.  
I sighed and looked at the sea. In fact, the water was unusually calm, but how long would that last? When the clouds decided to bring thunderstorms and rain over the land, the waves wouldn't stay this calm.

"Hae-yah, please", the young merman pleaded and looked at me longingly.  
"We'll be all right", he said but I shook my head firmly.  
"This is too dangerous. I don't want anything happen to you"  
"But Hae-yah, nothing will happen. Trust me. Please. Let's take a boat", Hyuk begged.  
While he was begging me, he freed himself from my embrace and walked with very uncertain looking steps towards one of the boats. Warily he eyed the water in front of him and finally stood still in safe distance to the salt water.

"Your friend seems to know what he wants", the lessor said happily and immediately went to the small rowboat Hyuk had selected. The salesman smiled as he watched how Hyuk was inspecting the small boat from afar. I didn't like that! Not at all!

Hastily I also went to the small rowing boat and pulled Hyuk closer towards me again, so that the lessor wouldn't get any wrong ideas. With interested eyes the stranger looked at me and began to laugh softly. I saw how he muttered something under his breath but because of the sound of the waves and the wind I wasn't able to hear a word he was saying.

"How much is this boat for an hour?", I finally asked with a harsh tone while glaring at the salesman angrily.  
"For you it is free", the stranger said while looking at Hyuk long and intently. Hyuk also stared at the lessor with an expressionless face. After a while he gave him one of those charming smile that always made me lose my breath when he smiled at me like that. I didn't like how both of them were looking at each other. I didn't like it at all!

As soon as I heard his answer, I raised Hyuk from his feet and carried him the few steps through the water to the small boat. Hyuk snuggled closer to me and smiled happily.  
"Thanks", he whispered softly in my ear, before I set him into the boat.  
I smiled at him briefly and gently ran my finger through his hair before I turned away from him to talk to the owner of the boat again. I gave him my ID card as a deposit but to my surprise he immediately returned it to me.

"Instead of that, take good care of him. OK?", he said with a gentle but admonishing tone as he gave me my card back. As soon as he had told me that, he turned away from me and began to praise his boats to attract more customers to his booth. Confused, I stared after him. What a weirdo.

"Hae-yah~" I heard Hyuk call which made me turn to him immediately.  
I quickly ran to the boat, loosened the rope and finally got into the boat as well. Hyuk greeted me happily. His eyes sparkled with joy and one of those wonderful smiles graced his face. The mere sight of his happy face told me that it was a good thing to rent this wooden boat.

I smiled and took the helm at hand, trying to advance the boat. Hyuk watched me as I struggled a little and regularly hit the water with the two rudders. Fascinated, he stared into the water and tried to detect the creatures that dwell in it. Unfortunately, the water got dull very quickly and Hyuk wasn't able to recognize anything anymore.

Disappointed Hyuk turned his attention from the sea to the beach, that already was laying a few meter behind us. As he looked at the beach, he put his head slightly askew and finally turned back to me.  
"I think we are far enough away now", he said and smiled sadly.

I immediately stopped in my tracks and looked at the blue-haired man questioningly. We were barely half an hour on the sea. Did he really want to go back already?  
I just wanted to ask him what he meant by 'far enough away' when I noticed how Hyuk pulled the shirt that I gave him this morning, over his head. Puzzled, I watched him. I tried to speak but no words wanted to come out of my mouth. Only when he awkwardly started to fumble on his pants I awoke from my rigid.

"What are you doing?", I asked, I tried to stop him from taking off his pants. Unfortunately he didn't listen to me. With little effort, he managed to pull his pants over his legs after he had won the battle against the common button.  
"I'm going into the water. It is about time anyway. When I got my fin I can push you through the water. That is a thousand times faster than with this weird gizmos", Hyuk explained.

"Why do you have to take off your cloth for that?", I asked while I felt how my face was heating up.  
"If I keep them on, I might get hurt or they might get ripped. I don't want that", he said calmly and without hesitation removed his boxer shorts.  
My eyes widened and I immediately tried to look somewhere else, but my eyes wandered back to him over and over again.

"Thank you very much, Hae-yah. Wish me luck", he said with a clearly strained smile on his face and got ready to jump into the water but I caught him by his wrist and made him stop in his movement.  
My hand was shaking and my grip was not nearly as strong as it was only a few minutes earlier but Hyuk still stopped as soon as he had felt my touch. Fear flowed through my whole body. I didn't want him to go. What if...  
My heart stopped beating briefly at the mere thought of that what might happen in a few seconds. A single tear came out of my eyes and slowly rolled down on my cheek.

Carefully, so that the boat wasn't rocking too hard from his movement, he leaned over to me and wiped my tears with his thumb away. He lovingly looked at me and moved even closer to me. Firmly he wrapped his arms around my neck and laid his head gently on my shoulder. I immediately hugged him back. Tightly I clung my arms around the merman. I didn't want to let him go. I was too afraid to never see him again.

"Everything will be all right. You'll see! I will go back with you on land. I promise! But before that I have to do this", Hyuk said and began to sob violently. I felt how he tense up significantly and began to tremble. Reassuring I stroked his head. A single tear left his eye and fell on my shirt. He sobbed loudly and let a new tear appear.  
"Don't cry, Hyuk-ah. You know that I don't like it when you cry", I said as I run my hand over his head again.  
Hyuk began to nod violently, tears continued to stream down his face relentlessly.

After a while he pulled away from the hug and looked at me with tears in his eyes. I leaned forward and gave him a gentle kiss on his forehead. Hyuk sobbed loudly and then vigorously wiped his tears away from his face. With sad eyes he looked at the murky water below us and slid a bit further away from me.

"If everything goes well... can I stay with you?", he asked hesitantly without looking at me.  
"I would be disappointed if you didn't want to stay with me", I replied to which he gave me one of his beautiful smiles.

Without a word of warning, he jumped out of the boat into the water. Briefly rocked the little wooden thing back and forth but it didn't bother me. It wouldn't matter if I would fall into the water. I just wanted to know if he was okay.

Immediately, I stared at the spot where he was submerged. My heart twitched painfully and left a sore void. Breathing felt so much harder now. Tears streamed down my cheeks and mingled with the water under me.

I stretched out my hand to the place where he had disappeared. The petite merman was nowhere to be seen. On the same place where he had disappeared, floated a lot of sea foam on the surface of the cold water. My hand dipped into the cold wet and told me that I wasn't imagining it. He was gone.

Inexorable I began to sob. I put my head on the edge of the boat and let my tears run free. If I just wouldn't have brought him here. Maybe this wouldn't have happened if I hadn't let him come here today.  
Angry at myself I hit the water next to the boat. It was my entire fault that he was no longer with me. I should have stopped him. I should have...

A jolt went through the boat and made me look up shortly. Hyuk's words from earlier came back into my mind. Without hesitation I leaned against the back of the boat. Another tear ran down my cheek as I didn't see Hyuk, who was trying to push the boat forward. I sat back on the edge of the boat again and sadly looked into the murky water. I just wanted to hit the water again when I noticed a dark shadow under the boat.

I leaned further over the railing to get a closer look at the shadow but the water was so dull that I couldn't see anything. Disappointed, I was about to lean back when I suddenly noticed how something big swam upwards. The closer the essence got to me the clearer became its shape. It was fast, but with each meter that it got closer to the surface it became slower. Curious, I followed the black outline of the shape and unconsciously leaned further out of the boat.

My heart was beating against my chest when I saw his face in the water. I smiled happily at his sight. Breathing became easier again.  
Hyuk emerged from the water. Slowly, he reached out towards me and gave me a quick kiss on my lips before he let himself sink back a little into the cold water again. Sassily he grinned at me. His eyes shone with happiness.

"I told you that everything will be OK", Hyuk said playfully offended.  
"I thought you were...", I sobbed and felt again how another tear ran over my cheek.  
"Thanks to you I'm still alive. In the zoo I've found out that I didn't have to go to Australia to find what I needed to find"  
Hyuk paused briefly. Slowly he reached his hand out to me and touched the spot on my chest where he knew that my heart was beating under it.

"Thanks to you I was able to experience warmth and comfort. The two things, that keeps all living things alive. I knew that the voice of the sea wouldn't let me down. It has chosen you for a reason. It knew that only you were capable of giving me those feelings"  
Hyuk pulled his hand from my chest and let it glide gently across my cheek. I enjoyed the gentle touch of his wet hand. Hastily I lifted my hand and put it on his. I felt his skin undermine and knew that I wasn't dreaming nor imagine things. He survived. He was with me.

"Can I really stay with you?", Hyuk asked insecure.  
Violently I nodded. A gentle smile appeared on Hyuk's face. I want him to be with me.  
"Then I'll do my utmost to fulfill his wish", he said joyfully which made me look at him questioningly. Who was he talking about? Whose wish does he want to fulfill?

Hyuk seemed to notice my confusion and smiled softly at me before he told me his name.  
"HyukJae's wish. The wish that created me. It's such a beautiful wish. I will try to fulfill it"  
"What wish are you talking about? What did he wish for?", I asked curiously but Hyuk didn't want to tell me.  
Coy he smiled and swam to the rear part of the boat. When I turned to face him, I saw how he gripped the wooden boat with his fingers and slowly pushed it forward.

**His sapphire blue fin glistened in the setting sun.**


End file.
